Program Description

Project Hope, Rhode Island

Overview

Project Hope is an aftercare program that targets youth with serious emotional disturbances who are returning to their homes and communities from the Rhode Island Training School (RITS). The target population includes adjudicated youth who are diagnosed with a mental health disorder (Axis I Mental Health Disorder), and who are between the ages of 12 and 22. Youth diagnosed with conduct disorder are eligible for the program. As a result, eligibility rates among the juvenile adjudicated and incarcerated youth population are in excess of 80 percent.

Project Hope began with a Federal Systems of Care grant and is now entirely state funded. It is administered by the state Department of Children Youth and Families, Division of Children’s Behavioral Health and Education. Services and supports are funded through traditional resources such as Medicaid or other insurance programs, as well as non-traditional resources such as wraparound funding. The program is administered in conjunction with the state’s Division of Juvenile Probation and Corrections. The goal of the program is to develop a single, culturally competent, community-based system of care for youth to prevent re-offending and re-incarceration.

Project Hope services are accessed by youth transitioning out of the RITS through an established referral process facilitated by the RITS clinical social worker 90 to 120 days prior to the youth’s discharge. This provides Project Hope staff—Family Service Coordinators and Case Managers—adequate time to get to know the youth and family prior to developing a service plan with them. Family Service Coordinators, each of whom is an individual who was or is the principle care giver of a youth who has had contact with the juvenile justice system, work closely with the Clinical Social Worker at the RITS while the youth is incarcerated and with the Probation Officer when the youth returns to the community to ensure comprehensive planning that incorporates youth service needs with community safety issues.

Once referred to Project Hope, youth and their families will meet with the FSC to participate in a strengths-based assessment and discuss what services they feel will be essential to assisting the youth in remaining in the community and avoiding re-incarceration. This plan is developed in conjunction with a community team that consists of the youth, their parent(s), the clinical social worker, probation officer, and community officers, before the youth is released. A case manager is assigned to ensure implementation of the plan for a period of 9–12 months following discharge. Throughout the period of involvement, the planning team will be brought together to change or modify the youth’s plan as needed.

Program Contact

Susan Bowler, Ph.D.
Administrator
Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families
300 New London Avenue
Cranston, RI 02920
Phone: 401-528-3758