Chair Stevens on unknown destination exits and discharge planning
Stevens asks about the 18% of crisis exits and 9% of TIL exits with unknown destinations, and what discharge planning is required. Escamilla-Davies says follow-up is required but voluntary participation and youth mobility make tracking difficult, with many youth staying connected to drop-in centers after leaving residential programs.
In fiscal year 2025, 18% of youth exiting crisis services and 9% of exiting TEAL programs left with an unknown destination.
What efforts are being made to provide, what efforts are providers required to make to establish a safe discharge plan before a young person exits?
Everybody, don't answer at the same time.
Yeah, I think ideally every young person is adequately supported for their next transition.
I think that we need to think about the developmental stages of young people when we're thinking about how...
Complete the information on where they go when they leave programs can be.
I know our providers are contracted to do follow-up services, and they may or may not have success following up on the young person.
There are instances where a young person may want to share exactly where they're going or the provider has trouble validating.
That number has gone down, I believe, over the years as we've worked more closely with providers in our meetings to say, like, it's very important that you make sure that you know where the next steps for this young person is.
I think...
We're going to continue to see those numbers go down.
So there isn't a requirement for them to ensure that when a person is being discharged that they have a plan or some follow-up or something like that?
Absolutely.
That is a requirement.
I think the variable is that whether it's a voluntary program and whether young people want to participate in that.
Listen, we all know young people don't like listening to us.
I get it.
I raised a teenager.
They think they're grown.
But I'm just trying to like, well, and if they don't.
Like, what's the step?
So it's just like, okay, well, I guess we don't know where they went.
Is that what happens?
I think many young people who are in the RHY system will continue to stay connected with a drop-in center, maybe not just one drop-in center, but many drop-in centers, and will very often come back to, or will sometimes come back to programming.
Something we see in the continuum of services with RHY is that young people are very often not connected with just one service, is that they sort of stay as part of the network.