The Interagency Coordinating Council for Children and Youth (ICCCY) will meet virtually on November 16 from 10:30 AM-noon. All meetings are open to the public and include time for public comments. Anyone is welcome to attend, but registration is required to minimize possible Zoom disruptions.
This is the proposed agenda for the meeting:
- Welcome
- MAP team overview
- Agency updates related to the work of the ICCCY, including each agency’s plans to support local MAP team participation from their system and their proposed designee(s) for the Interagency System of Care Council
- Funds that each agency can designate to support the ICCCY (either the work of the ICCCY or the actual functioning of the council and its needed infrastructure) and other items related to development of eventual MOU
- Possible proposal to the legislature for funding to support ICCCY
- Shared process for reviewing agency RFPs and other information related to the System of Care for Children’s Mental Health
- MYPAC and Wraparound Update
- Public Comments
- Process for setting next meeting date
- Adjourn
Background: The ICCCY was enacted into law in Mississippi in 2001 when HB 1275 was passed and signed by the governor. The bill established a statewide System of Care, and one of its purposes was to improve interagency partnerships for children and youth by creating the ICCCY. HB 1275 also created the Interagency System of Care Council. Its responsibility was to serve as the management team for the ICCCY, and to collect and analyze data and funding strategies, make recommendations to the ICCCY and the legislature, coordinate local MAP teams, and apply for grants.
We believe one of the most meaningful aspects of this statute is that it states Mississippi’s System of Care shall be (emphasis added) “Child centered, family focused and family driven”, core values in a system of care. Family driven means “families have the primary role in decisions regarding their children as well as the policies and procedures governing the well-being of all children in their community, state, tribe, territory and nation. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Identifying their strengths, challenges, desired outcomes/goals, and the steps needed to achieve those outcomes/goals;
- Designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating services, supports, programs, and systems;
- Choosing supports, services, and providers who are culturally and linguistically responsive and aware;
- Partnering in decision-making at all levels”
In 2010 the legislature passed HB 1529, which expanded the membership of the ICCCY, further defined the authority of the council to assist multidisciplinary assessment and planning (MAP) teams to become the single point of entry and re-entry for certain children and youth, and clarified the purpose of the statewide system of care for children with emotional and behavioral disorders.
“(a) The State Superintendent of Public Education; (b) The Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health; (c) The Executive Director of the State Department of Health; (d) The Executive Director of the Department of Human Services; (e) The Executive Director of the Division of Medicaid, Office of the Governor; (f) The Executive Director of the State Department of Rehabilitation Services; (g) The Executive Director of Mississippi Families as Allies for Children’s Mental Health, Inc.; (h) The Attorney General; (i) A family member of a child or youth in the population named in this chapter designated by Mississippi Families as Allies; (j) A youth or young adult in the population named in this chapter designated by Mississippi Families as Allies; (k) A local MAP team coordinator designated by the Department of Mental Health; (l) A child psychiatrist experienced in the public mental health system designated by the Mississippi Psychiatric Association; (m) An individual with expertise and experience in early childhood education designated jointly by the Department of Mental Health and Mississippi Families as Allies; (n) A representative of an organization that advocates on behalf of disabled citizens in Mississippi designated by the Department of Mental Health; and (o) A faculty member or dean from a Mississippi university specializing in training professionals who work in the Mississippi Statewide System of Care designated by the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning.”
