Contact Us    |         

Home > For Parents

For Parents

Parent FAQ's

1. What is the Comprehensive Services Act For at Risk Youth And Families (CSA)?

It is a 1993 Virginia Law that provided for the pooling of eight specific funding streams which purchased services for high risk youth. These funds are returned to the localities with a required state/ local match and are managed by local interagency teams. The purpose of the act is to provide high quality, child centered, family focused, cost-effective services to high risk youth and their families

2. How did CSA get started?

In 1989 the General Assembly became concerned because the cost of providing residential treatment to high risk youth was increasing at approximately 22% each year. Because of this a study of children in residential care was conducted. Fourteen thousand records from four different state agencies were examined.  Subsequent analysis showed that services were provided to only 4,993 individual children. In addition nine out of 10 of these children returned to their home communities and, unfortunately, if necessary changes in the child's community environment had not been made the progress achieved in the residential facility was often lost. At that point, it was decided that high quality, less restrictive, community-based services would be provided to these children if the funds were managed at the local level. There is a local cash match required to access the state CSA funds.

3.Which funding streams were placed in the CSA Funds Pool?

• Department of Social Services State and Local Foster Care
  Foster Care Purchased Services

• Department of Juvenile Justice
  286 Placements
  239 Special Placements

• Department of Education
  Private Tuition 
  Interagency Assistance

• Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services
  Purchased Beds for Adolescents

• Other
  Interagency Consortium

Children who would have been served by one of these funding streams are designated as targeted and should receive priority for services.

4. Who manages the money at the local level?

Each locality is required to have at least two different interagency teams, the Community Policy and Management Team and the Family Assessment and Planning Team.

5. What do the local teams do?

The Community Policy and Management Team (CPMT) is made up of at least one elected or appointed official or his designee and the agency heads or their designees from the local Department of Social Services, School System, Community Services Board (mental health), Court Services Unit (juvenile justice), local Health Dept., a parent who does not work for any agency which receives pool funds and, where appropriate, a private provider. This team has administrative and fiscal responsibility for the local funds pool, is responsible for the development of local policy and procedure and appoints the members of the Family Assessment and Planning Team. 

The Family Assessment and Planning Team (FAPT) is comprised of the supervisory level staff from the same agencies as the CPMT as well as the parent and often a private provider. These teams work with the families to develop the Individual Family Services Plan (IFSP). If the services needed are beyond what is available in the participating agencies and there are no other family or community resources available, the team may choose to purchase them with local pool funds.

6. Why are some children considered mandated?

The mandated and non mandated designations relate to the laws which are attached to the funding streams in the CSA funds pool. The education and foster care funding streams placed in the pool have sum sufficient language attached to them in Federal Law and Policy and/or the Code of Virginia. This means that state and local government are required, by law, to appropriate sufficient funds to serve these populations. In order for a child to be mandated to receive CSA funded services, at least two requirements must be met:

A. Before CSA, they would have been served by one of the funding streams placed in the pool.

B. The child is in one of the categories which have "sum sufficient" language attached to them.

7. Why are some children considered non mandated?

These are children who, before CSA, would have been served by the juvenile justice or mental health funds placed in the pool. Before CSA the judge would court ordered a juvenile justice child into a 286 placement. However, if all funds for the year were encumbered, the child was placed on a waiting list until additional funding became available. State and local governments are not required to provide additional funding for these children.

8. Are there any children, in addition to the mandated and non mandated children, who can be served through CSA.

If funds are available, localities may choose to serve other children with emotional or behavioral problems as long as there is multi agency involvement. These children are considered eligible for CSA funded services.

9. Are localities required to provide services to the non mandated and other eligible populations?

No, there is no legal requirement that local government provide the matching dollars to serve the non mandated and other eligible populations. Although the state allows local governments to protect a certain amount of CSA funding for the non mandated and other eligible populations, some localities are unable to serve those children.

10. Who is responsible for laws and policies that relate to services provided through CSA?

The agencies, which place the funding streams in the pool, still have the responsibility to promulgate and interpret laws and polices relating to those funding streams. This means the Virginia Department of Social Services is responsible for law and policy relating to foster care and the Virginia Department of Education is responsible for law and policy relating to special education issues. The Office of Comprehensive Services provides support to the State Executive Council and deals only with law and policy, which relate directly to CSA. Many of the questions received by the Office of Comprehensive Services must be referred to the appropriate state agency. Click here to see the state agency rosters.

For more information, please contact Cyndi Montgomery of The Office of Comprehensive Services at  (804) 662-9815.

.