WHAT IS A MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM?

Multidisciplinary teams (MDT) are investigatory and case management teams that are made up of professionals from law enforcement, prosecution, medicine, child protective services, mental health, victim witness, child advocates, and other child abuse professionals. http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dyfs/childabuseprevent/mdtsa.html

Multidisciplinary case management teams are meant to:

• Provide access to multiple departments/agencies to maximize available information at the initial investigatory phase.
• Reduce re-victimization of the victim, multiple interviews and delays in providing adequate legal and/or mental health services.
• Support victims through a difficult criminal justice system by facilitating case management.
• Identify gaps in resources and conflicts in service provision.

Multidisciplinary case management teams are time-efficient, resource-effective and create a shared responsibility and investment.  In multidisciplinary case review teams, all the members maintain their roles.  The case review team constructs, from the early phases of the investigation, a case plan and case disposition that all parties agree upon.  The involved programs and professionals that are associated with any given victim have a unified direction.  When this case plan is changed, such a change is accomplished with all the team members’ agreement.

Essex County’s Multidisciplinary Team is unique in NJ in that it is divided into two Case Review Teams (Team A and Team B), each with its own Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Coordinator.

CORE MEMBERSHIP OF THE
 CASE REVIEW TEAM

Each Case Review Team consists of at least:

• MDT Coordinator (Child Advocacy Center)
• Assistant Prosecutor from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office (ECPO)
• Criminal Investigation Supervisor/Designee (ECPO)
• Deputy Attorney General (DAG)
• Casework Supervisor from each DYFS local office
• Mental Health Clinician from the Regional Diagnostic and Treatment Center (RDTC)
• Physician or Nurse from the RDTC.
• Law Guardian from the Office of the Public Defender
• Institutional Abuse Representative from the Division of Youth & Family Services
• Other child abuse professionals

Other child abuse professionals often invited to attend a case review team meeting are those with specific knowledge regarding a case.  These can include, but are not limited to, DYFS caseworkers, DYFS casework supervisors, local law enforcement Officers, ECPO investigators, physicians, and therapists.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE
CASE REVIEW TEAM

• Monitor child interviews
• Discuss, plan and monitor the progress of the investigation
• Review medical exams
• Discuss protection issues and provide input in the decision to remove a child
• Provide input in the decision to prosecute an offender
• Give input in the sentence of an offender
• Discuss the treatment needs of child and family and create strategies for meeting their needs
• Review family’s attitude toward criminal prosecution
• Coordinate criminal, civil and family court proceedings
• Review criminal and civil case disposition
• Discuss support for non-offending parents
• Promote formal and informal communication among all responsible agencies
• Consider child development issues relevant to interviewing children, assessing their ability to participate in court, and preparing them for court
• Make recommendations for support services for child and family
• Discuss cultural issues surrounding child and family
• Formulate a case plan

WHAT IS A MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM COORDINATOR?

A Multidisciplinary Team Coordinator or MDT Coordinator (s) in Essex County essentially has the responsibility to ensure a collaborative case management approach in meeting victim and family needs by:

• Involving all child abuse professionals in order to design a team approach which is beneficial to the victim.
• Increasing the communication and cooperation between criminal justice and human service professionals and acting as a liaison between the multidisciplinary team and community resources.
• Convening a case review team meeting on a bi-weekly basis in order to present new cases and review existing cases as often as needed.
• Identifying problematic cases.
• Scheduling case specific conference on problematic cases.
• Identifying systemic issues which impede proper case management.
• Providing crisis intervention services as needed.
• Making referrals to appropriate community services (when DYFS is not involved or as needed).

The MDT Coordinator should not be confused with any of the direct service providers within the team.  Their primary goal is to provide coordination and case management.