Specifications include, but are not limited to: Alternative Living Services is the provision of in-home specialized care, transportation, and other services necessary for the health, safety, and well-being of the youth who cannot live with their families. Alternative Living Services are provided to eligible youth exhibiting maladaptive patterns of behavior, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress that cannot be treated in other less restrictive treatment settings. Youth requiring Alternative Living Services, both male and female, may be already in the community under supervision of an assigned Probation Officer, they may be youth completing a placement, treatment program or correctional component of a Court Order, or may be youth awaiting adjudication by a Court. Key elements of alternative living include, but are not limited to, skills teaching, therapeutic structure and routine, therapeutic recreation, motivational systems, and behavioral management. Alternative Living Services seek to successfully transition youth to permanent placement by providing cognitive, behavioral, social, vocational, and other skills. Many programs throughout the United States provide other services to address the needs of youth, such as family therapy, employment training, and social, health, and legal services.
