Intake and Referral Procedures

Carver County
Community Social Services
Intake and Referral Procedures
for
Child and Family Services

Since the advent of mandatory reporting laws, it has increasingly appeared that people believe that the way to refer a family to the county social service department is to make a child protection report.  While that does sometimes work, referrals to Carver County Community Social Services (CCCSS) can be made in a variety of other ways to fit a variety of other circumstances.  This procedure will define the process for making child protection reports, as well as processes for referring children and families for children's mental health case management, for developmental disability case management, and for other child welfare case management services. 

In some instances, a child or family's circumstances don't fit neatly into any given program or service area. When these situations arise, CCCSS has defined an internal team process that involves collecting eligibility information and then bringing parents and children together with staff from different program areas to design an individualized plan for services to best meet the needs of the child and family. Whenever possible, the department will seek to deliver all needed social services through a single social worker who is assigned to work with the family. Any Carver County social worker can initiate this internal team planning process with a supervisor or manager. Once a plan is established, the team will come back together as needed to review the plan and make necessary modifications.