In 2009, the Colorado Children and Youth Information Sharing (CCYIS) Initiative was created as a result of many state and local agency representatives hearing concerns about the lack of guidelines about sharing of confidential information across systems.
It is well known that youth who penetrate the juvenile justice system frequently come with a multitude of issues. They and their families have often traversed through a variety other youth serving systems by the time they reach the delinquency system - education, child welfare, mental health, substance abuse - sometimes simultaneously. It is also well known that providing services through a system of care approach yields positive results for youth and their families but a system of care implies that systems can share critical information expeditiously and appropriately.
Over the course of several years, the CCYIS secured the commitment of multiple state agencies including the Department of Human Services, State Court Administrator’s Office, Department of Public Safety, Department of Public Health & Environment, and Department of Education to make information sharing across systems a priority. The CCYIS, using national and state experts on privacy and confidentiality laws and practices, developed an Authorization/Consent to Release Information Form and provided regional training summits across the state to multi-disciplinary audiences on the use of the form, the laws which guide releasing of confidential information and how local communities could work collaboratively together to make sharing information a seamless practice for them as professionals and for the families they serve.
Resources
- CCYIS Background and Purpose
- Report on Focus Groups with Youth, Parents and Guardians regarding Information Sharing
- Practitioners Guide for Information Sharing
- CCYIS Summit PowerPoint
- Authorization/Consent Form English | Spanish
- Autorización Consentimiento para divulgar información Íngles | Español
- CCYIS Presentation Educational Stability Summit April 10, 2015
Training
Lourdes M. Rosado, Associate Director of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, PA, presented updates on FERPA, HIPAA and 42 CFR, among other issues related to youth information sharing. Her presentation has been divided into three videos, below.