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Magistrate describes Teams channel to coordinate staffing when youth leave Division of Youth Services
Summary
Magistrate Foley said a state-run Teams channel now staffs difficult discharge cases from Division of Youth Services, helping state agencies coordinate placements and services when families are unresponsive; the committee discussed earlier planning and collaboration needs.
Magistrate Foley reported the transitional-services collaboration channel on Microsoft Teams — run by the Division of Youth Services — has begun staffing cases for youth who are being released and who lack placement or engaged caregivers. He said the channel facilitated the first staffing and produced creative placement ideas and procedures for those cases.
Foley described the Teams channel as a state-agency collaboration tool used when local courts have already been notified and local transitional services are unavailable. The channel is intended for a limited subset: youth who have completed DYS services but, for reasons such as family refusal to accept return, require placement, dual-status consideration, workforce development assistance, or housing help. Foley said many local courts do not respond to 40-day and 10-day notice letters and that an earlier start — 60 days prior to discharge — can reduce crisis-driven placement decisions.
The group is drafting a best-practice guide for transitional services; Foley said he and staff attorneys are revising drafts based on judicial feedback and plan to circulate a subsequent draft for committee critique. Members asked for illustrations of how the Teams channel works and discussed whether local stakeholders such as probation, prosecutors, and public defenders should be involved in the staffing process. Foley said the channel is initiated by DYS and is not a general-purpose transitional-services forum.
