A policies and procedures manual for casemanagement operations in the Office of Mental Retardation, county of Lehigh, Pennsylvania

This project grew from the author's employment in the Lehigh County Office of Mental Health and Retardation. The development of a manual for case management activities which are the core of the mental retardation program was viewed as desirable by many at various levels of the organization. However, the competing demands of pressing daily priorities made the allocation of administrative resources to this effort unlikely. Thus, the development of this manual as a thesis project, met the needs of both the agency and the author. It is intended primarily for the training and reference of the case managers who provide mandated services to clients. It will also serve as a guide for administrative decision-making and as a basis for further policy development and transmission.;The manual consists of two sections; the first consisting of Chapters one through four, the second, Chapters five through eight. These Chapters offer a foundation for and description of a full range of case management activities. Chapter one orients the lay reader to the manual and was added to make the manual understandable for the thesis requirement. It is not part of the working document. It describes the role of the case manager, organizational features which led to the need for the manual, as well as some of the barriers to its' development. It is intended to provide a framework for the manual itself. Chapter two begins the manual by providing an overview of the field of mental retardation and the system of services which have developed to meet the needs of individuals with mental retardation and their families. It defines mental retardation and provides some historical perspective, briefly describes the National, State and Local framework for mental retardation services, explains some current trends in the field and concludes with a description of Lehigh County's Mental Retardation Program and services. Chapter three explains the guidelines for eligibility determination, the intake process and related documentation. Chapter four describes a variety of general activities required in the performance of case management. Each routine task is broken down and accompanied by examples of required documentation. These activities are arranged alphabetically and described as simply as possible to facilitate the manual's use as a reference.;Section two, begins the part of the manual devoted to service descriptions and the processes and documentation required to access and monitor these services on behalf of clients. Chapters five, six, seven and eight break these services down into Early Intervention, Family Support, Day Services and Residential Services, categories which roughly correspond to the regulatory and funding categories of each service. The manual concludes with an Appendix consisting of related material useful for reference in the performance of case management, designed to be informative, but easily updated as this information changes frequently.;The completed manual compiles existing material describing policy, services and procedure and combines it with additional new material. In some cases, tacit understandings were merely articulated; in others new service descriptions and policies were drafted. Extensive interviews with persons at all levels of the organization yielded invaluable information which provided ongoing focus for the project. Review of existing materials in use in other county programs was helpful. The resulting manual presents all the information currently available regarding case management activities and the program policies involved in those activities. Despite every attempt to be as comprehensive as possible, this manual is part of the ongoing process of delineating program philosophy as expressed in operational procedures. As the project progressed, and gaps in current usable written policy became more fully apparent, it was clear that deficiencies could not be comprehensively corrected overnight. The author presents this manual as one step in the process of developing the formal and comprehensive policies and procedures which are increasingly necessary in the mental retardation program and the public administration of human services.