June 1994 — Features

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CARAS: A School-Based, Case Management System for At-Risk Students

The whole process is handled by a case manager, with the assistance of a team of school and agency personnel, and, as needed, family members. The team usually prescribes what will help the student and family; the case manager ensures that prescriptions are fulfilled. This pattern generally corresponds to the practices of other human service disciplines where case managers often had social service, mental health or health science backgrounds. While a valuable starting point, several concerns have emerged: * Given no counterbalance, service providers tend to focus efforts where they are most comfortable, in activities closest to their training and backgrounds.2 * Case managers have little orientation or training in using data to assist decisions. They base their decisions regarding case selection, service prescription and case termination almost exclusively on general impressions and on the opinions of others. * By their training and interest in helping individuals, case managers' perspectives remain on the "trees" (students, families) and they have difficulty stepping back and looking at the "forest" (caseload, the at-risk population of a school, etc.). CARAS addresses such problems by helping case managers see the scope of the at-risk problem in a given school or district, thus enabling them to better coordinate the services needed. Data collected through CARAS assists them in all phases of a service plan, from referral through closure. The data also enables managers to see the impact they have on an at-risk population.
Additional Benefits to Others Because CARAS is a detailed system, its benefits extend to all members of a case management team. A typical school-based team includes the following: Case Managers: With CARAS, case managers can continually monitor the progress of students and families in their caseloads. Readily available information covers referrals, demographics, service planning, social services and health agencies. In addition, its extensive reporting capabilities allow case managers to generate up-to-date progress reports. Data can be aggregated for one's entire caseload, or used to develop a portfolio/profile of individual cases.