Woodfords Family Services

Community Case Management

A case manager's role is in large part defined by the amount of support and intervention a parent and/or child requests. A case manager can have many roles while assisting a child and family. Since case management services are voluntary, the family determines how significant the role will be. Services can range from informational to intensive.

Some of the major components of Case Management are:

Assisting a family with advocating for their child's needs such as occupational, speech, and/or physical therapy and/or recreational services. A case manager can observe a child in any of these settings to get to know how the child is functioning and how the professionals are working with the child. A case manager can also attend school meetings such as PET's and observe a child in the school setting to help the parent monitor progress or advocate for needs to be met through the IEP (Individualized Educational Plan).

The case manager can assist the child and family with coordinating services, such as locating a therapist, counselor, doctor, dentist, or recreational activity that the child would benefit from. The case manager can assist a family with utilizing in home support services for their child. Woodfords Family Services also has an In Home Support and Respite program.

The case manager can assist the family with setting up wraparound meetings for the child. A wraparound meeting is one where each professional working with the child is invited to attend to share with the team what the goals and objectives for that particular service. This approach works well for creating a strong team between family, child, and providers.

The case manager can assist a child and family with transitioning into public school at the age of five years, transitioning from the elementary school to the middle school, and from high school into adulthood and adult services. This occurs through careful planning and making sure a student is equipped with the right tools and skills to make a smooth transition and that the child's needs will be met in the areas of housing, vocation, and recreation/leisure goals.

The case manager will provide the family and child with information to the child's diagnosis, trainings, conferences, new research, support groups and resources and services the child and/or family may benefit from.

The case manager can assist the family with locating and making referrals to many types of services including doctors, therapists and therapeutic activities or summer camps.

Most importantly the case manager can be a source of support for the child and family by listening to the needs and strengths of the family and helping the child meet his or her goals.

Case Management services are accessible to any child age birth through twenty who has been diagnosed with mental retardation, autism, a pervasive developmental disorder or developmental delay and is eligible for MaineCare services including MaineCare.

If a child does not currently have MaineCare, an application will be mailed to the family and program staff will be available for assistance with the process. A child can be referred by a professional or family member. Once a child is referred an informational packet is sent to the family requesting information in order to get the process started. The family will be given an approximate time frame of when services will begin. The case manager who is assigned to work with the family will contact the family to set up an initial visit.

The visit will involve helping the case manager providing the with more in depth information about our program services. The case manager will confirm with the family that they feel that our program is a good fit for their families needs. The case manager will work with the family to evaluate the needs and strengths of their child to develop a comprehensive assessment plan called the Individual Service Plan (ISP). This plan will outline the goals and objectives that will assist the child with meeting his or her needs. This plan will be reviewed every three months.

To make a referral for case management services please contact Allyson Lowell at 878-9663 ext. 143 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call Lynn Murphy at 878-9663 ext. 179.