The Pennsylvania Department of Health's State Title V program housed in the Bureau of Family Health, provides and promotes family-centered, community-based, coordinated care for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN). This State Implementation Grant project embodies a new vision for the way systems respond to the special health care needs of children, youth and their families. This vision requires that Pennsylvania medical, education and human service providers rethink and redesign the way services are delivered, coordinated and managed. It also focuses on the way service providers can more effectively coordinate and organize local resources to meet the transition needs of these individuals. The intent of this program is to rebuild infrastructure and systems at the local, regional and state level, one step at a time. The outcome sought is improvement in the well-being of CYSHCN and their families by providing tools, models, resources, capacity building opportunities and technical assistance supports to 1) improve the way children and families access and utilize programs and services in PA, and 2) assure the cultural competency of that service delivery. (excerpts taken from June, 2008 State Implementation Grant Proposal submitted to HRSA/MCHB)

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) has established that family and community participation and engagement are key to the development of effective, quality health systems and services. MCHB strongly supports when implementing any recommended evidence based practices, members of the populations for which the practice is intended, be included in the planning, implementation and evaluation of that practice. This approach would embrace families of children with special health care needs, youth with special health care needs and community representatives, including those of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The six program areas, which correlate with the six core MCHB outcomes, addressed in this project are: 1) Family Professional Partnerships/Cultural Competence, 2) Medical Home, 3) Health Insurance and Financing, 4) Community Integrated Services, 5) Early and Continuous Screening, 6) Healthy and Ready to Work.

(excerpts taken from NFI State Implementation Grants for Integrated Community Systems for Child with Special Health Care Needs RFP – HRSA 2008)

To create sustainable improvements in systems serving children and youth with special health care needs in PA through family-professional partnerships that embody family-centered care and culturally competent principles including: youth leaders, parents, community groups, health care professionals, and government agencies.