A major goal of the Youth Bureau is to help plan and coordinate services to meet the needs of children and youth in Madison County. The Youth Bureau assesses the needs of young people in Madison County to identify problems and determine funding priorities. It develops local strategies to meet the identified needs of young people and promotes partnerships with local service providers to help coordinate and develop a comprehensive array of services and opportunities for children and youth. Long range planning and coordinated strategies to address these problems are outlined in the three-year Child and Family Services Plan. The Youth Bureau prepares this plan in collaboration with the Department of Social Services. The Child and Family Services Plan represents the first local effort to combine the planning processes of two county departments into one document.