I am looking for guidelines or a policy around youth workers (staff), using their personal money to buy personal items for youth. some of our youth are in high need and staff sometimes want to or feel obligated to buy them coats and such. do you have any materials that can address these issues?
Your question is an important one: about developing policies around youth workers using their own money to buy personal items for the youth they work with who may be in urgent need. Several chapters in the Community Tool Box include general information around policies and support for workers. These chapters include Chapter 10: "Hiring and Training Key Staff" and Chapter 12: "Providing Training and Technical Assistance." The chapter provide general recommendations.
With regard to your specific question, you might find the following website of value: http://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/ethics-articles/Client_Rela... This is an article about "Client Relationships and Ethical Boundaries for Social Workers in Child Welfare." Your staff might not be social workers but the information here can be valuable for thinking through the challenge of how to meet the needs of the youth while maintaining boundaries that might at first appear to the youth to be a rejection but in fact may help avoid situations that will complicate rather than improve the opportunities for youth.