WHO WE ARE

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to

serving youth who are victims of abuse, neglect and aban-

donment. Our live-in population of boys range in age from

11 to 18 years. These disadvantaged boys have endured se-

vere trauma and are at risk of mental illness, substance

abuse, academic failure, underemployment or chronic un-

employment, homelessness and incarceration.

OUR PHILOSOPHY

Youth Services Network is founded on the value and principle that every child is wor-

thy of dignity, love and support, and that without these qualities present, the life of

each child is diminished, and so too are we.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to provide safety, stability, support and a full range services to help

our boys overcome their challenges, and develop the emotional health, practical

skills, and family and community resources they need to achieve permanency and,

ultimately, a productive, self-sustaining, and meaningful adulthood.

In this issue:

WHO WE ARE P.1

WORDS FROM OUR E.D. P.2

ACHIEVEMENTS P.3

WHO WE SERVE P.4

2016 OUTCOMES P.5, 6, 7 HIGHLIGHTS P.8

2016 STAKEHOLDERS REPORT

This has

been an ex-

citing year

for Youth

Services Network! With the pas-

sage of AB403, Continuum of

Care Reform is well underway in

California, and with it significant

and positive changes in the care

and services we deliver to our

children and their families. The

end goal of “permanency” in-

forms all of our practices, mak-

ing it possible for each boy to

have the enduring support of

family relationships, whether bi-

ological, foster or adoptive. YSN

is committed to provide compre-

hensive services to minimize or

avoid altogether the trauma of

out-of-home care placement, to

effectively address the mental

health, behavioral, and social

challenges our boys face, to sup-

port the health and stability of

their families, and to ensure

that our boys leave our program

with the tools and building

blocks they need for a positive,

stable and meaningful future.

As part of this transformation,

YSN achieved national accredita-

tion in July 2016 by the Council

of Accreditation, a year- long

process during which YSN devel-

oped practices in alignment with

evidence-based models which

have demonstrated to lead to de-

sired outcomes. YSN was al-

ready delivering many of those

services and then put into place

a more formalized structure to

facilitate better coordination of

mental health treatment and to

allow for detailed data collection

at all levels of our program. This

is supported by our Continuous

Quality Control practices, where

we are always evaluating how

effective our service delivery is,

and what we can do to improve

to it.

Yes…our work has become more

challenging. Our youth present

increasingly serious emotional

and behavioral disorders and re-

quire more intensive and special-

ized services. As CCR imple-

mentation impacts every sector

of child welfare, lack of coordi-

nation, gaps in preventive ser-

vices, and “unfunded mandates”

most often manifest at the “front

lines” of care…that is, the acute,

daily needs of the youth and

families we serve. Our data

shows that these challenges can

result in higher “awols” and less

than optimal outcomes. But

numbers don’t always tell the

whole story. YSN’s skilled and

committed staff keep their focus

on delivering the highest quality

of care possible, while I, as the

Executive Director, am focused

on ensuring YSN transforms suc-

cessfully to expand our services

to prevention, family finding,

and aftercare, while continuing

to achieve at the highest stand-

ards of care.

As we embark on another excit-

ing and transformative year, YSN

is positioned to acquire its li-

cense as a Short-Term Residen-

tial Treatment Program and a

contract with the Department of

Mental Health. This new opera-

tional model will support our

goal of providing the most effec-

tive services to youth and fami-

lies, while utilizing residential

care in our 3 treatment homes to

provide each youth with a range

of individualized services and

activities in the community. We

firmly believe that achieving real

“permanency” requires three es-

sential elements: 1) a compre-

hensive mental health program,

2) family involvement, support,

and stabilization 2) individual-

ized services and activities for

personal development and skills

building. All three components

are the necessary building blocks

of a positive, self-sustaining, and

meaningful future that each one

of our boys have the potential

and right to achieve. And it

continues to be our commitment

to provide our boys "whatever is

needed" to achieve it!

FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

MIRIAM KORN

YSN is proud to have achieved National Accreditation by the Council on

Accreditation (COA) in 2016.

COA accredits over 2,000 private and public organizations and programs that

serve more than 7 million individuals and families in the United States, Canada,

and overseas.

The formal evaluation of an organization or program against best practices

standards. It is both a status and a process:

As a Status:

It signifies that an organization or program meets standards of quality set forth

by the accrediting body.

As a Process:

It involves an in-depth self-review of an organization or program against cur-

rently accepted best practice standards, an onsite visit by an evaluation team

comprised of experts, and a subsequent review and decision by the accrediting

body.

2016 ACHIEVEMENTS

WHO WE SERVE

As Los Angeles County serves a diverse population, so does our Group Home program. We

pride ourselves to being able to serve children and families from a very varied background

from many different cultures and traditions. Our staff is specially trained to meet the needs

of all of our children and families.

This year, YSN also served several LGBTQ youth with unique needs. YSN was proud to wel-

come Care Coordination Teams from the RISE project who aims at improving the lives of

LGBTQ children in out-of-home-care.

2016 OUTCOMES

This past year, YSN continued its Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) project targeting specific benchmarks and

improving outcomes for its clients. YSN continues to develop improvement plans to address the lower than usual

outcomes. YSN continues to develop improvement plans to address the significant challenges and lower than

usual outcomes due to increased mental health needs of its youth.

YSN Achieved national accreditation and completed first requirements for a Department of Mental Health con-

tract. YSN is also on track to submit their new program statement , now called Short Term Residential Program

(STRTP).

In addition, YSN expanded and increased participation of its Board of Directors, and met its fundraising goals.

YSN was able to maintain

occupancy throughout a tu-

multuous year filled with

new county and state regu-

lations. Average Census

throughout the year re-

mained consistent replacing

clients who were dis-

charged, and meet budget

projections.

Discharges fluctuated throughout the year. Although many residents chose to AWOL, they usually came

back within a few days, sometimes a few hours, and were ultimately successfully stabilized. This past year,

YSN successfully met permanency goals by reunifying clients back to their families of origin, discharging to

adoption, moving to transitional housing, and one emancipated.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

AVERAGE DAILY CENSUS

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

Discharges to

January February March April

May June July August

September October November December

2016 OUTCOMES cont.

Client’s satisfaction remain at an ultimate high this past year with clients feeling that services offered by

YSN helped deal with their issues. Overall satisfaction peaked in December past 80%.

YSN clients re-

mained in school

and a few even

graduated.

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

Client satisfaction

Overall satisfaction Degree to which services helped you deal with your problems

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Youth Productivity

In School Graduated Working

2016 OUTCOMES cont.

Risky behavior oth-

er than AWOLing

were at an all time

low. Clients were

drug & Alcohol free

throughout the

year. This was a di-

rect result from on-

going groups taking

place.

As mentioned earlier, AWOLs were the bulk of the serious incident reports (SIR) and residents left

the facilities for a short time before returning. School truancy peaked in May but was immediately

dealt with with more services for the clients who struggled with their attendance.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Risky Behavior

Arrests Alcohol/Drug Free Discharged and no arrest Discharged and alcohol/drug free

0102030

Serious Incident Report

Assaultive Behavior Suicide Attempts

Self Injury without suicide attempts School Truancy

AWOL Substance Use

Police Involvement Hospitalization (psychiatric)

Accident/Injury

JOIN US IN SUPPORTING THESE WONDERFUL YOUNG MEN, SO THAT THEY MAY BE-

COME PRODUCTIVE MEMBERS OF OUR SOCIETY AND LEAD US TO A GREAT FUTURE!

WWW.YOUTHSERVICESNETWORK.ORG

YSN clients often come to YSN with histories of school failure, truancy, and achieving sig-

nificantly below grade level. YSN residents remained in school, improved their attend-

ance, achieved passing grades, accumulated credits to grade level. and a few even gradu-

ated.

Lack of adequate services and resources for abused, neglected and abandoned youth is always a challenge. Traditional, basic care-taking approaches too often fail to help adoles-cents in out-of-home care develop the skills necessary for independent living and self-sufficiency in adulthood, thereby ‘institutionalizing’ them and creating long-term depend-ency on government or institutional support.

Public funding covers basic services, but does not provide for many essential programs that lead to real transformation of the boys’ lives. These youth are typically deprived of opportunities for normal experiences that are necessary for positive social, cultural and spiritual development of a young person.

Despite limitations of public funding, YSN is committed to provide whatever is needed for disadvantaged, emotionally disturbed boys to overcome the deprivations of their past and develop the emotional health, and skills they need to become productive, self-sustaining adults. It is our goal that every boy…whether he returns to his family, is placed with relatives or foster parents, moves to transitional housing, or lives inde-pendently…has the tools and resources he needs to achieve long term permanency and self-sufficiency.