September 2021
We are 18 months into the ongoing global pandemic and the Short-term Assessment and Rapid Reintegration (STARR) programs, like so many providers in the human services sector, are at crisis level. In September 2021 the Children’s League of Massachusetts surveyed our members who run STARR programs under contract with the Department of Children and Families (DCF). The responses–from 11 providers operating 27 STARR sites with 291 contracted beds— illustrate the immense strain that STARR staff and youth are under, and reflect both shared and unique experiences of the individual sites. They offer recommendations for DCF to better work in partnership with STARR programs to alleviate these pressures and return to the intended use of STARR programs as they shift to the new Emergency Residence model.
Please read below for our report on this issue, titled "Returning to our North “STARR."