• Serve 402 children in crisis due to circumstances beyond their control.

• Place almost 80% of our discharged children with a family.

• Implement two new community-based programs which currently work with over 65 children in their homes and communities.

• Enroll 17 children in our afterschool and summer camp programs.

Confidentiality Policy and Procedures

Policy:

Children and families served by the Italian Home are entitled to confidentiality. The Italian Home staff, through the following records keeping and information sharing procedures, will do everything possible to protect this right.

Procedures:

Program staff may access records for the purposes of developing, implementing and documenting the child's treatment plan, or for other professional purposes within the programs such as quality assurance activities. Records may also be shared under the following conditions:

• In a manner consistent with any existing legal requirements clients may have access to their own records. A case manager will supervise a review of case records by clients both to help interpret clinical information and to assure that confidentiality of a client's family members is not breached. In the rare and unlikely event that it is considered harmful for a client to access their own record the agency will seek the right to refuse access from the legal guardian in the case of a child client and the broader legal system in the case of an adult client.
• Children's guardians and adult clients have the right to influence a case record's contents with a written statement, addendum or rebuttal to any part of the case record.
• Records may be released to other professionals when a release of information form is obtained and filed in the record. The child's parent(s) or legal guardian must sign this release of information.
• Without a legally executed release and/or a directive from the Courts, records of deceased clients will not be shared.
• A fee may be assessed for copying the complete record.
• Unless otherwise indicated by the guardian or by court order, only the discharge summary and psychological testing report will be made available to the party requesting the record, in lieu of the entire case record.
• The following measures will be taken to secure client records against loss, defacement, tampering, or unauthorized use.
  • Storage of all records behind locked doors and behind double lock whenever possible.
  • Records must be signed out by the person using the chart.
  • Records may not leave the premises at any time, except as described below in #6.
  • Records may not be copied except when a release of information is filed in the chart.
  • Closed records are kept in order and should not be removed form the binder except for copying purposes.
• Records more than five years old may be stored off-site. These records will be preserved in their original form for at least ten years past date of discharge.
• Children in residence must have written consent by the child's parent(s) or legal guardian prior to participation in any of the following:
  • Research and experimentation which involves the resident.
  • Fund raising.
  • Publicity involving mass media communications.
• All contracts, under which the Italian Home operates as a vendor to provide services, are reviewed to ensure none of those contracts violate Italian Home confidentiality policies and procedures.
• Harmful Acts or Intent: There are circumstances when the Italian Home is required by law to take action, even without the client's permission. If there is suspicion of a child being abused or neglected the Italian Home is required to notify the appropriate authorities. If a client is threatening serious harm to another, we are required to notify the authorities and/or seek hospitalization. Finally, if a client is threatening to harm him or herself, the Italian Home may seek hospitalization or contact family members or others who can help provide protection.

OCCS regulation 3.10(4) & (5)
COA G1.6, G9.5, G11, & S27.7