Supporting Our Youth
Mentoring Policy and Procedure Manual
Mentoring Policy and Procedure Manual
|
|
Mentoring Policy and Procedure Manual |
|
Because of the complexity involved in having a youth move into the household of someone who is a stranger to them, youth applying for housing mentoring will usually undergo more assessment and screening than is necessary for community mentoring. This is necessary for the safety of both the youth and the mentor, and to ensure that the match is as compatible as possible.
A thorough screening process should include consultation with other service providers, personal references, a medical reference, and possibly a police check. However, due the particular circumstance in the lives of particular youth, it may be necessary to forego some of these steps.
During the inquiry process, a youth applying for mentoring housing should be informed of the likelihood that a housing mentoring match can be made. If it cannot, youth will be offered community mentoring. In any case, a decision may be made to match a youth with an adult for community mentoring for some period of time before a decision is made to proceed with housing mentoring.
Youth contact with the program may be initiated from a variety of different sources. Depending on the source of the initial contact, different steps will be taken, although it is expected that flexibility will be required to accommodate individual situations.
1. Youth-Initiated Contact:
Youth may initiate contact with the program as a result of hearing about it by word-of-mouth, promotion and outreach, information obtained from a service provider (health or social service organization, teacher, etc), or at the urging of a service provider. If the original contact is initiated by a youth, program staff will talk to them about the program and their interest in it, and make initial inquiries about their current circumstances.
If the youth is 16 years of age or over, eligible for the program, and not in a custodial arrangement with a child welfare agency, an intake appointment will be offered to them.
If the youth is under 16 years of age, efforts will be made to determine their current situation, and the youth will be informed that housing cannot be provided without involvement of their caregivers or child welfare authorities.
2. Service Provider Contact:
If the original contact is made by a referring organization, program staff will provide initial information about the program to the service provider, encourage the service provider to share the information with the youth, and ask the youth to contact the program themselves.
3. Youth in a Custodial Role with a Service Provider:
If the youth is under 16 years of age and in a custodial arrangement with a child welfare agency, program staff will inform the youth about the need to involve the organization in the process. The youth will be encouraged to discuss the issue with their service provider, and re-contact the program.
4. Parent of a Youth:
If the initial contact is made by the parent of a youth, the parent will be given basic information about the program, and asked to encourage the youth to contact the program. If the youth is under 16 years of age, the parent will be informed that their consent will be required to provide the youth with mentoring housing.
Program staff will meet with the youth to assess their needs and their current situation. The intake/assessment process may require more than one session. Every effort will be made to collect all relevant information including:
Demographic Information: including name, current address and telephone number, date of birth, biological sex, first language, and legal status in Canada.
Interest in Mentoring: reason(s) for wanting to become involved in the program and type of mentoring requested.
Sexual Orientation / Gender Identity: information about how youth currently identify in terms of sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and some description of their coming out or transitioning process.
Support System, Living and Financial Situation: including relationship to parents and other family members, current support system, suitability of current living situation, and financial resources.
Racial, Cultural and/or Religious Affiliation: connection to cultural community or religious organization, and the significance of these connections to them.
Daily Activities: school attendance or work status, information about what they do each day, and plans/hopes for the future.
Health Information: including information about general health, chronic conditions, communicable diseases, and contact with the health care system.
Substance Use: information about frequency of use of alcohol, recreational drugs, and tobacco, and any problems with using any of these.
Involvement with the Criminal Justice System: including current charges, and past charges and their disposition.
Involvement with Other Services: including job training programs, social services, child welfare authorities, etc.
Interests: including hobbies, knowledge of/participation in activities in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and transgender communities.
Matching Information: including their description of the kind of person they are (shy, reserved, outgoing, funny, wild, etc) and the kind of person they think they would best be matched with (sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, racial or cultural group, very active, low key, etc) .
If, during the intake session, program staff become aware of involvement with other service organizations, and feel that consultation with them would be significant to the youth's participation in housing mentoring, or to making a good match, staff may request permission to contact these service providers. Examples of situations where this might occur include concerns about the youth's emotional state or risk level, substance abuse, violence, conflict with the law, or where the youth is unable to provide sufficient information.
The request for release of information or consultation with other service providers would include a clear description of the type of information needed and the reasons it is being requested. The youth would also be informed that they were not required to consent to the release of information/ consultation, but that it may mean that they cannot be matched with a housing mentor.
If a youth agrees to a release of information or consultation, program staff should complete an Agreement to Release of Information/ Consent to Consultation form. It should include the name of person or organization information is being requested from, type of information being requested, reason for request, and the duration of time the agreement is in effect. A separate form should be completed for each person or organization.
The form(s) would then be signed by the youth, witnessed by someone other than program staff, and kept on file. In the event that the person or organization from whom the information is being sought requests a copy of the release, it will be mailed or faxed to them.
If a youth is in the care of a child welfare agency, the agency must be involved in the decision to match the youth with a housing mentor, and to be involved in the screening, assessment and matching process. If a youth under the age of 16 years, who is not in the care of a child welfare agency, is applying to be matched with a housing mentor, the appropriate child welfare agency must be consulted after the initial inquiry before screening and assessment can proceed further.
Youth wanting a housing mentor will be asked to supply the names of two people who can act as personal references for them. This may include teachers, social service or health care workers, counsellors or youth group facilitators, employers, relatives or other individuals of the youth's choosing.
These individuals will be contacted by telephone by program staff. The purpose of the references is to try to determine the suitability of the youth for housing mentoring.
In certain situations, youth may not be able to provide the names of two individuals who can act as references. In this case, the requirement for personal references may be waived.
During the course of the screening / assessment process, it may be discovered that a youth has a criminal record or is / has been involved in criminal activity. This information may have been obtained from the youth, or from a service provider who has worked with the youth. Whatever the source, this information should be thoroughly explored for youth wanting a housing mentor.
This exploration may take the form of consultation with other service providers who have a comprehensive knowledge of the youth. For youth over the age of 18 years, a police reference check may be requested if it is felt that there is insufficient or incomplete information. Youth would be asked to sign a "Toronto Police Service***Consent to Disclosure of Personal Information ***Police Reference Check Program" form. The signature should be witnessed by a person of the applicant's choosing, or program staff. The fee for the police record check will be covered by the program. Central Toronto Youth Services will forward the signed consent and the fee to the police.
Toronto Police Services will conduct a search for the youth's criminal record. If no criminal record is found, the form will be stamped "No Information Found" and returned to the Executive Director of Central Toronto Youth Services who will communicate this information to the Program Supervisor. If a criminal record is found, police will notify the Central Toronto Youth Services and the Program Supervisor that a "Summary Sheet" has been sent to the youth. A youth who receives a summary sheets should contact the Program Supervisor and the Executive Director at Central Toronto Youth Services to request an appointment to review the Summary Sheet.
The applicant has the right to refuse to permit the Executive Director of Central Toronto Youth Services and the Program Supervisor to see the Summary Sheet. Should this happen, the screening / assessment process will be terminated immediately.
If the youth agrees to permit the Program Supervisor to see the Summary Sheet, it will be reviewed and information contained on it will be discussed with the youth. Should the youth wish to continue with the application process, program staff may decide to seek legal consultation regarding the information contained on the Summary Sheet. The Program Supervisor, will decide whether to continue with the assessment / screening process or to terminate it. Ultimately, program staff have the right to decide whether a youth is suitable for the program, based on this process.
Any information about a youth's criminal record will be utilized solely by the program, and will be kept confidential.
Youth with charges or convictions involving murder, sexual abuse of children, sexual assault, or living off the avails of prostitution will not be accepted into the mentoring program.
Careful consideration will be given to charges or convictions involving, but not limited to, physical violence or threats of violence, harassment, stalking, drug trafficking, impaired driving, drunken and disorderly conduct, fraud and possession of drugs. The frequency and recentness of these offenses will be factors in the decision to accept or reject applications. Youth with criminal records involving these offenses will be given the opportunity to contextualize any charges or convictions.
A youth applying for housing mentoring must provide the program with a medical reference, and agree to discuss the contents of the medical reference with staff of the project, as required. Ultimately, project staff have the right to decide whether a housing mentoring match is possible, based on this process.
The purpose of the medical reference is to determine whether an youth has any physical illnesses, communicable diseases, mental health issues, or history of substance or medication use which would affect their ability to be successfully matched with a housing mentor. The chronic or acute nature of these problems/behaviours, as well as their recentness, will be factors in the decision.
Once a decision is made to attempt to match the youth with a mentor, the youth will be asked to complete a brief form containing information which may be shared with a potential mentor prior to the first meeting. This information will be kept on file and used by program staff when approaching potential mentors.
At this point, the youth is ready to be matched with a potential mentor. Staff will maintain occasional contact with the youth while they are waiting to be matched.
Where circumstances permit, youth wanting housing mentoring should be involved in a community mentoring arrangement with a mentor who is able to provide housing to allow them to get to know each other and to determine whether they will be able to live together. This period of community mentoring should ideally be 2 to 3 months in duration.
In some circumstances, the youth's need for housing will be urgent, and involvement in community mentoring for a period of time will not be practical. In these circumstances, program staff would need to be involved in more intensive and frequent follow-up, especially during the first few months.
Presentation of Potential Matches
Once a youth has completed the screening / assessment process and is ready to be matched with a mentor, program staff will review accepted mentors and select one whose interests and capabilities seem to be compatible with the needs of the youth. Program staff will then contact the mentor by telephone, and present the youth to them based on the information contained in the Personal Profile. At this stage, only the first name (or the name the youth prefers to be known by) will be revealed, and every effort will be made to preserve the identity of the youth, while providing enough information to enable the mentor to make an informed decision.
The youth will also be contacted, by telephone or in person, and will be presented with a profile of the potential mentor. At this stage, the identity of the mentor will be preserved, and only first names will be used.
Initial Meeting(s)
If both the youth and the mentor agree to an initial meeting, program staff will arrange this, either at the office, or at a neutral location such as a coffee shop. The initial meeting should be scheduled for about one hour.
Program staff will be present at the meeting, and will facilitate an exchange of information to enable the two participants to get to know each other better. Program staff will also discuss the purpose and parameters of the mentoring relationship, based on the needs and interests of the youth.
At the end of the meeting, the youth and mentor may arrange to meet again without program staff present, decide that the match would not be compatible, or arrange to think it over and contact program staff the following day.
If, after the first meeting, youth and mentor decide the match would not be compatible, program staff will follow up with each individually to determine the reasons so that a more appropriate selection can be made in the future. The process would then start again.
If, after the first meeting, or after some time to think through the decision, both agree to meet again, this would be arranged for the purpose of letting each of the participants get to know each other better. A decision about the duration of a community mentoring relationship would be made after that meeting, and the process would proceed to contracting for a community mentoring relationship.
During the community mentoring period, there would be opportunities for the youth to visit the home of the mentor, and program staff and participants would be involved in discussions about the future living arrangement. Eventually, they would move to the contracting stage.
Program staff will meet with the mentor and youth together to broadly determine the parameters of the housing mentoring relationship. This information will eventually be written into a contract that will be signed by the mentor, the youth, and program staff. Copies will be distributed to both the mentor and youth.
The contents of the contract should include, but not be limited to, the following:
Program staff will provide in-person follow-up with both the mentor and youth within two weeks after the youth moves into the mentor's household, and as often as required after that. Youth and mentors will both be involved in a more formal evaluation of the mentoring relationship 3 to 6 months after the contract is signed.
(needs to be written)
| next | back |
© Supporting Our Youth
|
Supporting Our Youth |
Contact Point Mentoring Page |
