State Permanency Consultants (SPC) Cluster Categories & Definitions

The provision of services to children that includes care in settings such as:

• A day care center;
• The home of another
• In their own home

The purpose of these services is to meet crisis or respite needs, prevent or remedy abuse or neglect, alleviate stress in the family or preserve the family unit. Services strive to facilitate the child's social, physical, cognitive and emotional growth. Includes resource recruitment and development and regulation/certification activities.

The provision of services to maintain clients in independent or supervised living in their home or the home of their friends or relatives which help them meet their daily living needs, address their needs for social contact, ensure their well-being, and /or reduce the likelihood that they will be placed into alternate living arrangements. Services may include, but are not limited to: household care, personal care and supervision. Includes supervised apartment living, senior companion activities, telephone reassurance, friendly visiting, and home health care. Includes payments to maintain an individual in the independent living arrangement. Counseling/Psychotherapy in a person's own home is part of the Counseling/Therapeutic Resources program. Excludes nonemergency twenty-four hour care in an adult's or child's own home for the purposes of respite which should be classified as Respite Care. Excludes home and financial management training activities which should be classified as Daily Living Skills Training.

The provision of transportation and transportation-related supervision to the elderly, handicapped, or other persons with limited ability to access needed community resources (other than human services). Includes provision of tickets or cash for their purchase designed to provide safe, comfortable, and accessible conveyance. Limited to that transportation which assists in improving a person's general mobility and ability to perform daily tasks such as shopping, visiting with friends, competitive employment, etc., independently. Excludes transportation which is provided principally to access services purchased or provided by a county social or human services department, 51 Board, or county aging unit which should be classified under the program or programs to which the transportation provides access.

Services providing support to clients in order to maintain a natural living arrangement or aid in the adaptation to physical, or communicative barriers. Skill development, adult day care, meal programs, respite care, interpreter services, adaptive equipment, housing and energy assistance, basic sustenance, monetary resources and the administration and coordination of services are all present in this program cluster.

The provision of service to clients that include: screening, assessment, diagnosis, case planning or determining the existence, or nature of a specific problem.

The provision of a network of coordinated care and treatment services to adults with serious and persistent mental illness and chronic alcoholic clients. These services may occur in natural or supportive service settings delivered by an identified provider and staff to ensure ongoing therapeutic  involvement, reduce the disabling effects of mental illness or alcoholism, and assist clients to access and participate in the community.

Services delivered for the purpose of promoting vocational participation and self sufficiency.  Services may be delivered either in community settings including job placement sites or in rehabilitation facilities (e.g., sheltered work) and may include vocational counseling, or activities which promote participation in work or job placement services. Includes provision of day center services to persons with social, behavioral, mental, developmental, physical or alcohol and drug abuse disorders to develop skills necessary to participate in community life.

Supported Employment is competitive work in an integrated work setting for individuals who, because of their handicaps, need ongoing and/or intensive support services to find and perform this work. Supported Employment is limited to individuals with severe disabilities (i.e., severe developmental disabilities, serious and persistent mental illness, severe physical disabilities, and/or severe multiple disabilities) for whom competitive employment has been interrupted or intermittent as the result of a severe disability. It includes transitional employment for persons with serious and persistent mental illness. Excludes welfare employment programs.

The provision of services to clients in licensed foster homes, group homes, shelter care and community-based residential facilities including social detox, as well as to clients in certified adult family homes.

The provision of treatment services in outpatient, and day service-medical settings:

• Services to developmental disability and physical disability clients which are primarily health or treatment oriented for the purpose of ameliorating health problems. This includes occupational and physical therapy, speech and language therapies.
• Services delivered by mental health outpatient and day treatment programs for the treatment of mental illness. Treatment services are for the purpose of ameliorating the effects of various mental disorders and to improve personal, social and family functioning.
• Services delivered by alcohol and other drug abuse outpatient and day treatment programs for the treatment of AODA. Treatment services are designed to improve personal, social, vocational and family functioning and prevent further deterioration of physical health. Includes outpatient services delivered under emergency conditions and methadone maintenance programs. Excludes outpatient assessments.

Services delivered in institutional settings such as state mental health institutes, centers for developmental disabilities, hospitals, CBRFs certified as inpatient treatment programs, and nursing homes with a certified AODA extended care component. Services to mentally ill clients in either general hospitals or specialty hospitals for the treatment of nervous or mental disorders or in residential care centers. Inpatient treatment is for the purpose of providing treatment of mental disorders and eventually restoring health, personal and social functioning. Includes admissions for emergencies and evaluations. Services delivered in these types of institutional settings; hospitals, CBRFs certified as inpatient  treatment programs, and an AODA treatment component and nursing homes with a certified AODA extended care component. The objective of these  programs is the treatment of persons with severe AODA dependency designed to improve health and personal, social, vocational and family functioning. Includes admissions for emergencies and evaluations. In the case of extended care, the objective is to assure the protection and safety of persons who exhibit the characteristics listed in the definition of chronic alcohol and other drug abusers allowing clients to stabilize in a safe, healthy, low stress environment which can also address their medical needs. The objectives of these services are stabilization and/or amelioration of behavioral disorders and active treatment and rehabilitation for enabling return to the community in the shortest possible time. Included are the mandatory benefits of food and housing as well as custodial care, supervision, education and training, and counseling services.

Units of service under the IMD service cluster are defined as days of care provided in an IMD licensed nursing home to persons meeting the mentally ill client characteristic criteria of receiving services in an IMD under a 90% Continuing Placement Slot contract.

All services for child abuse and neglect, delinquent and status offender, and juvenile justice services are reported to the Department of Children and Family Services.