//System of Care Framework

System of Care Framework

What We Believe

Philadelphia System of Care (PSOC) has a core set of values and principles that guide all levels of decision-making and system improvement:

Youth & Family-Driven: We believe young people have the right to be empowered, educated and given a decision-making role regarding their own care.We believe families have a primary decision-making role in the care of their children as well as the policies and procedures governing the care of their children.

Culturally & Linguistically Competent: We believe youth and families should receive what they need in their preferred language and with sensitivity and respect to their beliefs and values.

Community-based: We believe youth and families deserve high quality behavioral health services and supports to remain in their home communities while receiving treatment.

PSOC Goals and Objectives

Many youth with serious behavioral conditions have extended stays in out-of-home, residential treatment facilities that require them to be separated from their families and communities in order to access treatment.The ultimate goal of our work is to create and sustain a family- and youth-driven system of care that serves Philadelphia’s youth with serious behavioral health needs, many with child welfare or juvenile justice involvement, and their families such that youth can be served in their homes and communities.

Philadelphia’s System of Care is working to reduce the use and the duration of out-of-home residential treatment through key, targeted strategies that have been proven effective at supporting children and youth transitioning and remaining in the community. These strategies include:

  • High Fidelity Wraparound as a family-focused, team-based planning process
  • Development of Children’s Mobile Crisis Response and Stabilization and new crisis resource centers
  • Consultation with the national Building Bridges Initiative

As part of the continued transformation of all of the services within our continuum that children and youth receive, Philadelphia System of Care works in partnership with families and youth with lived experience to empower family and youth voice throughout our system. Key strategies to support these goals include:

  • Creating an independent Family Legacy Organization
  • Developing  the Family Peer Support workforce
  • Enhancing the Youth M.O.V.E. Philadelphia chapter