Below is a brief summary of the different types of community meetings that you can become involved in. For further information, please contact your local Family Systems Manager who will be happy to help you.
System of Care/Community Collaborative:
- A System of Care is not a program. It is a philosophy of how care should be provided to children and youth. It is an approach to the provision of services that acknowledges the importance of family and other caregivers, school and community, and seeks to promote the full potential of every child and youth by addressing their physical, social, emotional, intellectual, cultural, and linguistic needs.
- A System of Care is a comprehensive spectrum of mental health and other related necessary services. These services are organized into a coordinated network to meet the multiple and changing needs of families who have children/adolescents with Serious Mental Health Challenges (SMHC). The family will decide what services are appropriate for their youth and family.
- A System of Care reflects the catchment area they represent.
- To learn more, visit the WrapCT website.
Statewide Council of Community Collaboratives
This meeting consists of membership of all 25 local System of Care Community Collaboratives. It gives the collaboratives planning, learning and networking opportunities as well as sharing experiences of the individual collaboratives.
Regional Advisory Council (RAC)
The purpose of the Regional Advisory Council is to advise in the establishment and maintenance of a comprehensive system of services for children, youth and families within the Region. Pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes 17a-30 (formerly 17-434) the mission of the Council shall be:
- To advise the Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families on the development and delivery of services in the Region
- To facilitate the coordination of services for children, youth and their families in the Region
State Advisory Council (SAC)
The State Advisory Council (SAC), mandated by Connecticut Statute, Sec. 17a-4, is a fifteen-member committee appointed by the Governor. The primary duties of the Council are to: review policies; recommend programs, legislation or other matters that will improve services for children, youth and families; review and advise the Commissioner on the proposed agency budget; perform public outreach to educate the community regarding policies, duties and programs of the Department and issue any reports it deems necessary to the Governor and the Commissioner.
Children’s Behavioral Health Advisory Committee (CBHAC)
Originally a committee of the State Advisory Council on Children and Youth Services that addressed system of care issues, the Children’s Behavioral Health Advisory Committee (CBHAC) was formally established by the state legislature through Public Act No. 00-188. Under this legislation, CBHAC began meeting in 2000, serving in an advisory capacity to the State Advisory Council.
Under the requirements of P.A. 00-188,
- CBHAC is composed of state agency appointments (commissioners or their designees), state legislature appointments, two members appointed by the Governor, and 16 members appointed by the State Advisory Council on Children and Families
- The majority of members must be “parents or relatives of a child who has or had a serious emotional disturbance or persons who had a serious emotional disturbance as a child” and appointed members being limited to two two-year terms
- Members serve two-year terms
- CHBAC is chaired by two persons from its members—at least one of which is a parent of a child with serious emotional disturbance—who serve two-year terms and may be re-nominated
- CBHAC meets at least bimonthly
- CBHAC is to submit an annual status report on local systems of care and practice standards
- CBHAC is to submit biannual “recommendations concerning the provision of behavioral health services for all children in the state” to the State Advisory Council
Local Interagency Service Team (LIST)
The creation of the LISTs is a system development strategy for the establishment of an integrated system for planning, implementation and evaluation of juvenile justice service delivery in Connecticut. The LIST provides a venue for community-level interagency coordination and formal communication and planning between state agencies and local communities around juvenile justice issues.
Goal: Encourage collaborative efforts among local stakeholders for assessing the physical, social, behavioral, and educational needs of children and youth in their respective communities that leads to juvenile justice involvement, and for assisting in the development of comprehensive plans to address such needs.
Behavioral Health Partnership Oversight Council
The Behavioral Health Partnership Oversight Council was established in legislation (PA05-280 and later PA10-119) to advise the Departments of Children and Families (DCF), and Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), and Social Services (DSS) on the planning and implementation of the statutory Behavioral Health Partnership (BHP). The BHP Oversight Council is comprised of legislators and their designees, behavioral health consumers and advocates, medical and mental health practitioners, state agencies and insurers.