Children and Youth Services
What Does the System Do?
The children and youth services (CYS) system was set up by state law to protect children from abuse and neglect. It is responsible for helping every child have a safe and secure home life. County child and youth agencies are given this responsibility. They must protect children and provide services to the family when:
- Children have been injured, abused, or sexually molested by their parents(s) or caregiver(s)
- Children are not adequately cared for or watched.
- Parents are not able to care for children and no otherresponsible adult is available.
- Parents need help with their problems or their children’s problems.
In GreeneCounty, Children and Youth Services (CYS) is the county children and youthservices agency responsible for protecting children from abuse and neglect. Greene County CYS provides general protective services, caseworker assistance, homemaker services, counseling referrals, general investigation and research, and coordination with other service providers in the community.
Most children and youth become at risk of abuse and neglect due to dysfunction in their family system. Greene County CYS provides a variety of services to help troubled families and protect children from abuse and neglect.
Greene County CYS provides the following services for children, youth, and families:
- Child protective services –Childline: Abuse and neglect referrals, interviews, prevention to legal intervention.
- Placement services –Foster Care as least destructive option to institutional settings.
- Runaway services.
- Unwed parent assistance.
- Adoption.
- Primary school sexual abuse prevention program.
- Speakers available on related topics.
All families with children under 18 years of age are eligible.
The mission of CYS is to support families through education and preventive services and to protect children from abuse, neglect and dependency when families cannot or do not provide adequate parental care. Program responsibilities focus on the following areas:
- Assessment and determination of safety and risk;
- Monitoring;
- Placement;
- Foster care services
- Adoption services; and
- Family visitation.
The goals of CYS include the following:
- Child Safety: Children are, first and foremost, protected from abuse and neglect. Children are safely maintained in their own homes whenever possible and appropriate.
- Permanency: Children have permanency in their living situations. The continuity of family relationships and connections is preserved for children.
- Child & Family Well-Being: Families have enhanced capacity to provide for their children's needs. Children receive appropriate services to meet their physical and mental health needs as well as their educational needs.
- Foster Home Recruitment & Retention: Provide children with an out-of home family environment that is conducive to their educational, physical and mental health needs. Assure all foster parents/homes maintain compliance with all governing rules and regulations for full licensure. Strive to maintain foster homes in each of the county's five school districts.
- Adoption: Provide children with a loving family and permanency in their lives.
- Staff: Maintain state certified staff of caseworkers. Provide ongoing training and education for all staff.
- Agency: Assure all case records are maintained in compliance with applicable rules and regulations to remain a fully licensed agency. Explore case management software programs to become more efficient with case work and enhance time-management skills. Continue with the on-going preparations for the CFSR, a federal review of the agency's operations.
Who’s Who in the System?
There are many people that you may interact with as part of the children and youth system, including the following:
Children and Youth Caseworker
The person assigned to your case by thecounty children and youth agency. This person is often referred to as your CYS caseworker or simply your caseworker. The caseworker provides reports to court and mustcome and see you at least once every month. Your caseworker must make sure you are safe and that your needs aremet.
Conflict Attorney
Legal representative for one parent if his/her interests differ from the other parent.
Guardian ad Litem (GAL)
A lawyer who is appointed to represent a child/youth incourt. The GAL must tell the judge what the child/youth wants and also what he or she thinks is in the child/youth’s best interest.
Independent Living Coordinator
This is the person in your county who makessure youth who are 16 and older are receiving independent living services. Independent living services are those services that would assist a youth to begin planning for living on their own.
Private Provider Agency
Many countyCYS agencies enter intocontracts with private agencies so they will provide placement and services tochildren and youth in the CYS system. A private agency might provide foster familycare for youth, group care, adoption services, or Supervised Independent Living (SIL). The staff of the private agency provides direct supervision for those children/youth placed with the private provider agency. TheCYScaseworker is still involved in the case, but the private agency works with the children/youthday-to-day. The private provider agency must follow certain state and federal laws in providingcare to children/youth.
Solicitor for the County
This attorney represents the countyCYSagency at emergency, adjudication and disposition, and permanency review hearings.
Judge
A judge is someone whose job is to make decisions in a court of law.
What are the Rights and Responsibilities That I Need to Know About?
There are many rights and responsibilities that you need to know about if you are involved in the children and youth system. These rights and responsibilities are described in two (2) documents in the “Resources” section:
- Rights and Responsibilities in the Children and Youth System
- Rights of Youth Involved with the Children and Youth System
What Special Programs are Available in GreeneCounty?
The following are special programs offered by Greene County CYS.
Family Group Decision Making (FGDM)
Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) is an evidence-based practice that empowers families to make decisions and plans for themselves. This practice puts the family in charge of inviting people to their conference, encourages them to talk about their strengths and concerns, and empowers them to write their own plans for success. Historically, family plans have been driven by the CYS agency's and service provider's concerns for the family; now, the agency is encouraging families to become more engaged by writing and fulfilling their own family plans, with support and guidance from the agency. CYS will continue to ensure safety throughout the life of the family plans.
Truancy Intervention Prevention Program (TIPP)
The Truancy Intervention Prevention Program (TIPP) is an interagency effortto prevent truancy by assisting with the identification, referral, and assessment of high risk students. TIPP assists schools by identifying students who are having problems with truancy, meeting with students and their families in order to assess the problem, and providing the family with support and other services to help the students to attend school regularly.
Independent Living Program (IL)
The Greene County Independent Living Program is designed to assist individuals who were placed in substitute care on or after their 16th birthday, or adopted after age 16, in practical skills and knowledge that is necessary to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency. This overall goal is met through assessment, case planning, stipends, hands-on life skill training, education/career planning, housing, prevention and wellness and mentoring with program staff.
Who are the Local Contacts in Greene County?
Dolores Blosnich, Children and Youth Director
FortJacksonBuilding, Room 201
19 South Washington Street
Waynesburg, PA15370
Phone: 724-852-5217 / Fax: 724-627-6630
On-Call beeper - 911
Amy Metz, Intake/Abuse Supervisor
FortJacksonBuilding, Room 201
19 South Washington Street
Waynesburg, PA15370
Phone: 724-852-5217 / Fax: 724-627-6630
On-Call beeper – 911
Jennifer Johnson, Ongoing Casework Supervisor
Danielle Reese, Ongoing Casework Supervisor
Fort Jackson Building, Room 201
19 South Washington Street
Waynesburg, PA 15370
Phone: 724-852-5217 / Fax: 724-627-6630
On-Call beeper – 911
Crystal Barrett, Independent Living Coordinator
FortJacksonBuilding, Room 201
19 South Washington Street
Waynesburg, PA15370
Phone: 724-852-5217 / Fax: 724-627-6630
On-Call beeper - 911
The following sources of information were used for this section:
A Family’s Guide to the Child Welfare System, Jan McCarthy, Anita Marshall, Julie Collins, Girlyn Arganza, Kathy Deserly, Juanita Milon, December 2003.
A Parent’s Handbook, Allegheny County Department of Human Services, August 2008.
Know Your Rights: A Guide for Youth in Substitute Care, Juvenile Law Center and KidsVoice, 2006.
Greene County website –
1Last updated – April 2012