SUPERVISED INDEPENDENT LIVING PLACMENTS

1. SUPERVISED INDEPENDENT LIVING PLACMENTS

2. Placement and case management as it relates to adults in OHC Case management activities must ensure: • life skill development, • self-advocacy (empowering youth as the leaders and key decision makers of their future), • fostering supportive relationships and connecting youth to community supports. Caseworkers and agencies must: • Consider that the youth are now legal adults and their own guardian. • Be mindful that the independent living services plan remains a significant aspect of the youth’s permanency plan; recognizing that an appropriate continuum of services ultimately leads to a healthy and productive adulthood upon discharge from care.

3. Placement and case management as it relates to adults in OHC • The goal of extended care is to increase the likelihood of a successful transition to independence for youth most at risk. • Allows for a more natural progression to independence with the support of caring adults. • Allows for the natural trial and error of youth decision-making while benefitting from a safety net.

4. Placement and case management as it relates to adults in OHC Extending care and court jurisdiction beyond age 18 is a continuation of all components of placement and care responsibilities including: • maintaining safe and appropriate placements, • permanency planning, permanency plan reviews and hearings, and • life skills development and activities that will lead to a successful transition to adulthood. Youth placed under a court order or Voluntary-Transition-to-Independent Living Agreement will: • Have the opportunity to remain in their current placement setting when feasible and appropriate • Have a plan for the gradual transition to a more independent living setting while completing their secondary education. [Agencies should consider providing a graduated progression of structure and supervision to greater levels of freedom and independence and making placement decisions in partnership with the youth and based on their interests and desires, allowing youth to move from a higher level of supervision to expanded independence while supporting placement stability.]

5. Placement and case management as it relates to adults in OHC Placements must include specific components to mindfully plan for the youth’s transition to independence (Appendix A of Policy Memo): • Development of basic self-sufficiency skills; • housing stability; • supports and resources to promote financial stability; and • a cultivation of a sense of self-worth and understanding of healthy relationships.

6. Supervised Independent Living Placements Definition: • “Placement and Care Responsibility” through a county or the Department which provides the youth the ability to live in a wide range of settings. • The agency with placement and care responsibility is responsible for supervision of the youth, maintains case management, and any associated ongoing services for the duration of the court order or Voluntary. • The agency provides financial assistance for living expenses. • Supervisory contact with the youth can range from moderate (2-3 times a week based on stability of the youth and the length of time the youth has been involved in Supervised Independent Living) to intense (where daily contact with the youth is necessary for a successful placement.

7. Supervised Independent Living Placements • SIL is a combination of independent placements and programming including: • Highly integrated system of living arrangements that provides youth ages 17-21 a safe place to live independently (or semi-independently); • Professional services that provides youth 24-hour access to caring adults; • Connections to community resources.; • Activities that allow for development and practicing of life skills; • Securing of resources needed to maintain housing throughout adulthood.

8. SIL placement and case management as it relates to adults Case workers play a critical role in SIL programs. Responsibilities include: • Assessing youth as individuals so that their unique needs may be met most effectively. • Provide flexibility, individualization, nurturing, guidance through positive role modeling, and consistent coordination. • Facilitation of collaborative partnerships in the community in order to support youth’s access to needed services and resources as they learn to live on their own. • Focus on core components of • self-sufficiency, • housing stability, • financial stability, • self-worth, and • healthy relationships

9. Supervised Independent Living • Apartment, shared housing • where a provider owns/operates the complex and provides supervision and support to youth. • Apartment, shared housing • An independent apartment program in which the youth or the provider leases the apartment, the youth lives independently with decreasing levels of supervision and support from the provider. • Tenant, Room in a house independent apartment • in which the youth leases a room in a house from a landlord/homeowner

10. Supervised Independent Living Maintenance payments will continue to cover the cost of (and the cost of providing) daily needs: • When setting an appropriate monthly SIL maintenance rate for a child, the county or Department shall complete the Supervised Independent Living Rate Setting form (DCF-F-5031-E), and may include the following cost categories: • Rent/Renter’s Insurance • Food Budget • Furnishings (bed, table, dresser, etc) • Household Supplies • Utilities (Electricity, Heat, Water and Sewer) • Telephone • Clothing • School Supplies • Personal Incidentals • Other (not IVE reimbursable) • The county or Department are not to exceed a monthly maintenance rate of $3,000 and rates are to be based on actual costs. • If a youth shares an apartment with another individual, the costs shall be distributed among the occupants commensurate with their portion of the total amount and must be re-determined if an additional occupant moves into a shared space if the costs are not already based on a proportion of the total amount.