King County Children's Mental Health Services
INTERAGENCY STAFFING TEAM

The Interagency Staffing Team (IST) started in Seattle in September 1987. Initially it was a county-wide program. In October 1991, two additional ISTs were added. Currently there are three separate ISTs covering  South and Central King County and the Eastside, respectively.

Each individual IST is a community-based, multi-disciplinary team comprised of professionals from many of the major child-serving systems in the local areas. The working groups include but are not limited to members from the local school district/s, Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD), Department of Youth Services (DYS), King County Mental Health, Chemical Abuse & Dependency Services Division (MHCADSD), inpatient and outpatient mental health agencies, a parent advocate, and a minority representative. All direct service professionals that are involved with a particular child/youth are invited and encouraged to participate in the IST staffing.

The goals of the IST are: 1) to identify the needs of difficult-to-serve children/youth; 2) to coordinate cross-system service plans including authorization of flexible funding to purchase individualized/wrap-around services; 3) to collect data on the availability and accessibility of services in order to evaluate capacity and functioning of the system; and 4) to develop recommendations that improve the integration and collaboration of the multiple service system components.

The population served are the most seriously troubled children and youth, ages 3 to 18. These children/youth are multi-system involved, have a history of special needs, and frequently exhaust conventional services or programs. They are often at risk for an out-of-home placement or are returning to their home communities after hospitalization, juvenile detention or residential placement.

The IST forms a team around a child and family consisting of a parent or guardian, the child (as appropriate), involved systems, as well as other significant individuals involved in the child's life. Using a concept called "individualized/wrap-around" services, the teams create a plan for the child and family based on their strengths and needs. The plans are holistic and cover major life domains: social/recreational, educational, vocational, home/family, medical, and crisis/safety issues. Each plan is unique, created around the individual child and family.

For more information regarding an Interagency Staffing Team, please contact the IST Coordinator at: