The dashboard below provides information about Allegheny County Jail population management, including the daily jail population, population in alternative housing, bookings and releases, and lengths of stay. Data is available from 2018 to the present and is updated daily.
As the COVID-19 situation is rapidly changing, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) is working with providers to help identify the needs of the people we serve. We cannot predict what the future of the outbreak might be, but we are striving to continue to help people who need it most. Information for our providers will be updated on this page as it becomes available.
Daily Provider Call
Call In Line for the Daily Briefing
Join Microsoft Teams Meeting
+1-267-368-7515 (Toll)
Conference ID: 253 994 565#
Local numbers | Learn more about Teams
For those who cannot make the call, we will post presentation materials and video recordings of the calls.
Register for COVID-19 Updates
To register for meeting invitations and additional correspondence regarding COVID-19 and Allegheny County Human Services: Survey Link
Email us at DHS-COVID19Planning@alleghenycounty.us
Please indicate in the Subject Line whether your question or concern is related to Children, Youth and Families, Aging, Behavioral Health, Intellectual Disability, Community Services, or DHS operations (e.g., contracting, payment, etc.).
Follow us on Social
The Allegheny Family Screening Tool (AFST) is a predictive risk model designed to improve decision-making in Allegheny County’s child welfare system. The tool utilizes hundreds of data elements to predict the likelihood that a child referred for abuse or neglect will later experience a foster care placement. The AFST provides additional information – in conjunction with clinical judgement – to assist child welfare workers making a call screening decision.
After a multi-year process that included rigorous research, community feedback, and independent ethical review, Version 1 of the AFST started being used by call screeners in August 2016. Findings from an independent impact evaluation and a commitment to continuous improvement of the tool led to a rollout of Version 2 in December 2018 that updated the algorithm, data sources, and associated policies.
View a comprehensive packet on the AFST that provides all of the County’s published research and partner evaluations to date or select from the following documents:
- Methodology of the AFST
- Evaluations of the AFST, Version 1
-
-
- Impact Evaluation Summary and Full Impact Evaluation (April 2019)
- Process Evaluation (January 2018)
- Ethical Analysis and Response to Ethical Analysis (April 2017)
-
-
- Frequently-Asked Questions
When removing a child from home is necessary, a stable foster home is the preferred placement option; unfortunately, adolescents and teenagers are much less likely to find such a home and often end up in group homes or other congregate settings. The Families for Teens initiative, funded by the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is designed to increase the number and quality of foster homes for these older youth through a variety of collaborative, training, support and marketing strategies.
Click here to view the full report.
Content and analysis: Sanjeev Baidyaroy, Emily Kulick and Katherine Stoehr
An involuntary commitment is an application for emergency evaluation and treatment for a person who is considered to be a danger to self or others due to symptoms of a mental illness. In Allegheny County, petitions for involuntary commitment are managed and authorized by the Department of Human Services (DHS), through its Mental Health Information, Referral and Emergency Services (IRES) 24-hour phone line.
This report presents an analysis of all involuntary commitment petitions received by DHS from 2002 through 2013, during which time petitions were filed on 37,750 individuals, most commonly involving teens and young adults. African Americans experienced higher rates at almost every age and men experienced higher rates than women of the same race.