The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff. The Adolescent Transition Group (ATG) program has been reviewed by the CEBC in the area of: Youth Transitioning Into Adulthood, but lacks the necessary research evidence to be given a Scientific Rating.

• Types of Maltreatment: Does not target any specific kind of maltreatment
• Target Population: Youth ages 14 to 21 who require on-going services from the adult systems of care (i.e., mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, developmental disabilities, physical health disabilities, and co- and multi- occurring disorders). Children aging out of either physical or legal custody of the state child protective services or juvenile justice agency may also have their cases analyzed.

An ATG, developed by the New Mexico Department of Health and the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department, is a collaborative group of employees from adult and children service systems. An ATG analyzes actual cases to identify service system issues and barriers. The three goals of an ATG are to a) help transition youth referred to the ATG to services they will need as adults; b) identify systemic issues, barriers, and service gaps in the transitioning process develop strategies to address these issues; and c) offer professional support to employees involved in the adult and children service systems.

Representatives (employees) from child and adult service systems attend regular meetings. To participate in an ATG, they should:

• Have adequate knowledge of their service system, including eligibility criteria, capacity, application process, etc.
• Participate in "good faith."
• Have ability to report to supervisors on findings.
• Have an ATG role and responsibility as part of their job description.

An ATG needs a regular supply of active cases to analyze.

• The group needs a source for current youth transitioning cases.
• The use of active cases point to the issues between systems of care that are not apparent with a review of policy or programming.
• These clients in the youth transitioning cases need to have their cases referred to an ATG.

Each meeting must have a Neutral Coordinator.

• The Coordinator can be from a participating service system, but must be able to put the case review in context for multiple systems of care.
• The Coordinator does not need clinical background, but there should be a clinical representative.

An ATG should have a neutral meeting space.

An ATG should allow time for cross-training before analyzing active cases for the first time.

• Different service systems use the same words to mean different things, which only becomes clear in cross-trainings.

These uniform tools should be used at each meeting:

• An ATG checklist.
• Logs/tracking tools.

A follow-up to each analyzed case should be presented and include the following:

• A report on what worked.
• A report on what did not work.

Youth and their parents are allowed to attend an ATG when the youth's case will be presented.

Adolescent Transition Group (ATG) was designed with a child component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

• Living in out-of-home situation or has special needs that will make transitioning to adulthood difficult.

Age range: 14 – 21

Developmental Delays:

This program was not developed for children with developmental delays, and has not been tested for children with developmental delays.

Adolescent Transition Group (ATG) was designed with a parent/caregiver component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

• Parent of youth in out-of-home care or with special needs that will make transitioning to adulthood difficult.

Adolescent Transition Group (ATG) was not designed to be conducted in a group setting, and has not been tested for use in a group setting.

Recommended Intensity:

The collaborative group meets once a month or every other month. Youth are encouraged to participate in the group meeting when their case is being reviewed.

Recommended Duration:

The collaborative group is an on-going process. Some meetings can last up to 3 hours.

Not Specified

This program does not include a homework component.

Adolescent Transition Group (ATG) does not have materials available in a language other than English.

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

A neutral meeting space is needed. This group is owned by participants from various systems of child and adult care and should be held in a space not associated with a provider agency. Participant’s time is compensated either under their job description at their employer (service system) or, for clinical participants, as an activity under either case management or discharge planning. Paying for participants’ time is a key resource issue that increases systems’ participation in the process [i.e., the system’s employee shows up to the group because it is part of their job.] Another key resource is the time needed for the group process to be established and operate. With professional staff turnover (and therefore, group participant turnover), the group process is a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process.

There are no minimum qualifications for participating in the group, but the group should try to have the same participants each month. The neutral facilitator should have the skills to move the group from clinical to system issues. This skill can be developed as the facilitator learns more about each system of care.

There is a manual that describes how to implement this program, and there is training available for this program.

Training Contacts:

• Marie Dibianco-Eik
  New Mexico Department of Health
  phone: (505) 827-1630
• Joe Shivers
  New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department
  phone: (505) 425-9335 x121

Training is obtained:

Training is provided on-site.

Number of days/hours:

Approved by the New Mexico Board of Social Work for 8 hours of Continuing Education Units (CEUs)

This program has been reviewed and it was determined that this program lacks the type of published, peer-reviewed research that meets the CEBC criteria for a scientific rating of 1 – 5. Therefore, the program has been given the classification of "NR - Not able to be Rated." It was reviewed because it was identified by the topic expert as a program being used in the field, or it is being marketed and/or used in California with children receiving services from child welfare or related systems and their parents/caregivers. Some programs that are not rated may have published, peer-reviewed research that does not meet the above stated criteria or may have eligible studies that have not yet been published in the peer-reviewed literature. For more information on the "NR - Not able to be Rated" classification, please see the Scientific Rating Scale.

Child Welfare Outcomes: Not Specified

Currently, there are no published, peer-reviewed research studies for Adolescent Transition Group (ATG).

No reference materials are currently available for Adolescent Transition Group (ATG).