“Because no one can do it alone...”

JustCare Family Network (JCFN) was established in 2008 to serve the needs in Shelby County of families of children and youth with serious emotional disturbance (SED).  Locally operated in Memphis by a partnership of Tennessee Voices for Children, Comprehensive Counseling Network, Urban Youth Initative, and the University of Memphis, with a grant administered through the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (TDMHDD), JCFN provides help to youth ages 5-19  struggling with emotional and behavioral problems and  assists their families in understanding how to build resiliency and be proactive to avoid future crises. 

It is estimated that there are more than 6,000 youth with SED in Shelby County, a majority of which are African-American, eligible for TennCare-funded mental health services. There is a gap between eligibility for TennCare and receiving the benefits from TennCare for SED. JCFN strives to close that gap as well as address other service gaps in Shelby County.

By utilizing trained local parents/caregivers as care coordinators with behavioral support from mental health consultants, and partnering with parents at all levels, the JCFN seeks to serve at least 400 children and youth, offering a wraparound approach to delivering mental health services to the significantly underserved and underrepresented local population. In addition, because many youth in the juvenile justice system are presented to the court with undiagnosed and unmet mental health needs, the JCFN hopes that by addressing these mental health needs, Shelby County will see a decrease in the numbers of these youth appearing before the court.

The Just Care Family Network Vision:

JustCare Family Network will develop a service infrastructure that will empower caregivers, youth, and families with the knowledge, skills, resources and support they need for their children and youth to be successful at home, in school, and in the community.

Through this vision, the JCFN seeks to achieve the following Goals:

• Decrease the incidence and length of stay of children with SED in placements outside the home.
• Increase access to a broad array of services incorporated in an individualized service plan for each child/youth.
• Improve the functioning of children with SED clinically, academically, and behaviorally.
• Decrease parent stress.
• Institutionalize an infrastructure of family-driven and culturally competent services.

Support Systems and Partnerships
The project design builds on the successful implementation of family-driven care in the two initial Tennessee system of care sites. Youth engagement and community outreach will be enhanced through partnerships with local secular and faith-based youth organizations, as well as strong outreach and education partnerships with the faith-based community, a critical component for reaching the target population. The project implementation team will partner closely with the evaluation team at the University of Memphis, led by an expert in mental health issues of urban African-American youth, to implement a continuous quality improvement process based on evaluative data from youth and families.