CHILD AND ADOLESCENT SERVICES:
Child and Adolescent Services is committed to providing community-based, comprehensive child and family-focused services. Programming is designed to meet the varying needs of emotionally disturbed children, victims of trauma or family violence, and children and families in crisis. Solution-focused programming focuses on family strengths and responds to the cultural needs of diverse communities. Financial support for services comes from many sources, including King County's Prepaid Health Plan, Medicaid, DCFS, United Way, public schools, program fees, insurance and managed care benefits. All services are provided in close collaboration with families, other child-serving systems, and community organizations. Program components include:

Valley Greens Program:
This therapeutic horticulture work-training program is designed for clients between the ages of 12 and 21 and teaches vocational and social skills and teamwork. The focus is to raise organic greens to sell at Farmer's Markets, providing clients with experience in horticulture and basic work responsibilities.

South King CountyInteragency Staffing Team (IST):
VCCC serves as the coordinating agency for the South King County IST, as designated by the King County Regional Support Network (KCRSN). The IST is a collaborative effort among the Department of Children and Family Services, local school districts, parents and local/county/state service agencies. The purpose or the Interagency Staffing Team is to identify and meet the needs of multi-system involved children and youth (ages 0-21) that are severely emotionally disturbed and to improve the coordination of services for the benefit of these children and their families. Support available from the Interagency Staffing Team includes consultation on wraparound planning and developing child and family teams, flexible funds and screening referrals for Children's Long-term In-patient Treatment (C.L.I.P.).

Project T.E.A.M. (Tools, Empowerment, Advocacy and Mastery):
Project T.E.A.M. is a project of Children and Families in Common, a grant from the Federal Center for Mental Health Services. This program provides tools for families looking to the courts for help with youths' challenging behaviors like running away, drug involvement, truancy, and physical acting out. It involves a planning process called wraparound, a holistic approach to a family's everyday life. A child and family team is developed and an individualized care plan created. The plan focuses on ways to help families find the supports needed to realize their goals.

Network of Support:
The Network of Support is a monthly resource support group for parents and family members of children and youth with serious emotional disturbance. The goals of this group are to link families up to resources in their communities, to develop a natural support community for parents and caregivers, and to establish parent voice in the mental health system.

Outpatient Services:

• Outpatient Services provide a wide range of clinical services to children, adolescents and their families or caregivers. These services include play therapy, individual and family therapy, psychiatric medication evaluation/monitoring, and clinical case management. Staff have established collaborative working relationships with all South King County school districts, Public Health, Division of Child and Family Services, and other community agencies. Consultation and training services are available for schools and children's service agencies in the community. Treatment for victims of child sexual abuse is offered. Outpatient services are offered in the office, home or schools.

• Family Support Services provide in-home and in-the-community counseling. Included are Family Preservation Services (FPS) and Home-based Services contracted through the Division of Child and Family Services, and case management. Parent support groups are also offered.

• Functional Family Therapy (FFT): This Research Pilot Project is a collaborative effort between King County Superior Court, King County Mental Health Chemical Abuse and Dependency Services Division, and Valley Cities. It is designed as a prevention program (with an emphasis on measurable results) for youth, 13-17 years of age. FFT is an integrative model for working with at-risk adolescents and their families through an outcome driven prevention/ intervention program for youth demonstrating maladaptive behaviors. FFT is based on a relational, familial model that supports the idea that all participants play a role in the "problem" and its subsequent resolution. The program derives its effectiveness by placing emphasis on those factors essential for effective, positive change, etc.

• School-Based Services: This is an intensive outpatient treatment strategy utilized to serve children and youth for whom once or twice weekly outpatient therapy is inadequate. These children often have histories of, or are considered for, inpatient psychiatric hospitalization and/or residential care. The goal of day treatment is to maintain these severely disturbed children and youth in the community within the context of a family unit and a school setting. Many of these children have extremely diverse and challenging needs and have histories of out-of-home placements, severe trauma, and school failure. Services may include individual and family therapy, case management, psychiatric medication evaluation/monitoring, crisis intervention, and in-home family support. We provide day treatment at five school-based locations:

• High School: The MERIT School Program, in Federal Way, serves up to 16 students ages 12-21 and their families. This program employs 2 teachers, 3 Para-educators and VCCC provides a half-time clinician.

• Elementary: The Green Gables Day Treatment program is located in the southwest corner of Federal Way. It is the most intensive program for this age range in the district. This program serves up to ten 4th-6th graders. A therapist is assigned to work within this program 16 hours weekly. Twin Lakes and Camelot Elementary school both serve up to ten 1st-3rd graders. These two programs are titled EBD, meaning emotionally behaviorally disturbed. A VCCC staff is contracted to provide groups and individual therapy on site for 7.5 hours weekly. They also provide family therapy and case management services as needed. We provide similar services to Silver Lake and Valhalla Elementary School. Each classroom is specifically designed for grades 4, 5 & 6. Therapists also serve each classroom 7.5 hours weekly.

• VCCC has recently engaged in a working agreement with the ECAP program within Federal Way. We are able to support their program with additional services, strengthening the program and assisting them in meeting state mental health requirements.

Adolescent Chemical Dependency Services:
This program is committed to helping youth learn to make positive choices in their lives, supporting families, schools, and communities in the process of recovery. We provide a complete chemical dependency assessment, outpatient individual & family counseling, case management, wrap-around services, and co-occurring treatment for youth with both mental health and CD issues. Services are coordinated with schools, courts, and other agencies or treatment providers.