Dedicated to the care, welfare, and respect of families and the individuals who comprise them

Annual Report   |||   Calendar 2008        

2008 Newsletter
 

Home-Based Services

Home-Based Program Philosophy

    In accordance with the mission of Family Connections, the Home-Based Services Program holds that the family is a desirable social institution and should be supported and maintained whenever possible.

    Every family has resources and strengths which can be tapped to improve overall functioning. Through observation and analysis of the family structure and relationships, the family members may become more insightful as to how certain symptoms/patterns of behavior serve a particular function and use this as a springboard for change. Therapeutic intervention is designed to assist families in identifying their unique strengths, relationships, and organization. Overall functioning may be improved through developing executor roles for parents, decreasing marital conflict, and reducing symptoms among children.

    The Home-Based Services Program recognizes that parents are in charge of their families and home-based services are provided to support, encourage, and assist them in the parenting role. Therapeutic intervention with parents does not mean assuming their role or responsibilities.

    The Home-Based Services Program further recognizes that each family is part of a larger community system. Intervention cannot proceed in isolation. Therapeutic intervention fosters the interdependence of the family with its community.

    Home-Based services are a comprehensive intervention with the goal being to support and maintain all family members in their own home, thus avoiding out-of-home placement for any child. Where that is not possible, home-based services may assist the family in keeping a door open for communication and reducing the likelihood of emotional cutoff.

    Home-Based services are never pursued at the expense of the child's safety and best interests.

Goals and Objectives

    To assist in avoiding the necessary placement of children and aid in keeping families together

• Home-Based services will provide an adequate, least restrictive alternative consistent with the needs of the index client and family.
• Home-Based services will provide comprehensive assessments of family dynamics, patterns and conditions.
• Family support workers will teach skills necessary for independent, cooperative family functioning.

    To assist in the reunification of children in out-of-home placement with their families

• Home-Based services will be provided for families with children in placement to facilitate the transition of the index client into the family.

    To prepare families to utilize existing community resources

• Family support workers will obtain services and resources from various community agencies.
• Family support workers will identify and utilize natural social support networks.
• Family support workers will coordinate various service and supports needed by the child and family.

Admissions for Home-Based Services Program

    Referrals for home-based services may come from a variety of sources: West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, probation, court, school, Head-Start, Community Behavior Health Centers or other social service agencies. In all cases the family should have been made aware of the referral by the referral source. Family Connections serves families in a home-based setting when it has been determined that the child or children are at risk for out-of-home placement, or the child or children have already been removed and reunification is the goal.

    Risk for out-of-home placement can be established by at least one of the following:

• Child Protective Services Initial Assessment (risk factor - HIGH) and safety plan has been completed by DHHR staff.
• A court finding that a child has committed an alleged act in a delinquency petition and placement is probable.
• The child's level of emotional/behavior impairment presents a danger to himself or others and psychiatric hospitalization is probable.

    Additional criteria:

• A child is in placement and the Child Protective Service case plan is to return the child to his own home. Significant risk factors are still present, but a case evaluation indicates safety issues can be controlled.
• The family cannot solve the problems(s) without outside intervention.
• The conditions leading to family dissolution are treatable, and/or correctable.
• The family and its members are willing and able to actively participate in the service provision process and show potential to benefit from services.

    A family is appropriate for services under this program if all of the following items can be checked:

• The family is willing to accept services.
• The family is able to participate in treatment services.
• The family demonstrates potential to benefit from the services.
• Less intensive services are not sufficient to meet the family's needs.
• The child's presence in the home does not create a safety risk to other family members or others in the community.
• Safety of the child or children can be maintained.

    The family is not appropriate if any of the following apply:

• Family is not in crisis/no impending placement or return of a child.
• Family declined services.
• Unable to insure safety of family members/community.

Therapeutic Team

    The family support worker makes up one leg of the therapeutic team. The therapist and the family are the second and third leg. The entire team is supported by consultation, supervision, and a solid theoretical approach to home-based work.

    Communication needs to go in every direction along the legs of this triangle. Leaving any team member out of the decision-making and planning will undermine the work