Child Welfare Services: Every Family Counts/Aftercare
Project Description:
This program provides support and services to parents whose children are in the process of being returned home following a foster care placement and can remain involved with families for up to two years post-discharge. Goals: The goals of the Every Family Counts Aftercare program are to ensure that children who return home from family foster care placements are safe and that their well-being needs are met such that the rate of re-entry into foster care for those children is reduced. The goal is to provide an in-home, strength based, community oriented range of services using a family engagement model to support these families and ensure that they are integrated into their communities. By having a comprehensive aftercare program for families being reunited with their children, children remain in foster care for a shorter length of time and will remain permanently with their families thereby reducing foster care costs overall. In addition, children will be stable and their well-being needs will be monitored and met. Objectives: . Parent training/ Clinical services: The Every Family Counts program provides a seamless transition to from weekly parenting skills training provided by WIHD while children are in foster care to home-based support to help families re-establish themselves as a unit within their community. Care coordination: In addition to ongoing parent training, the staff, both professional and case management staff, will collaborate with all post discharge requirements for families and collaborate with DSS staff involved with families to ensure that all the needed and recommended wraparound services are in place and that the family is engaged with such services. Recreational planning: The program provides services to ensure that families are integrated into their communities through recreation and community activities. Wraparound services and community engagement: The staff ensure that families are embedded in their communities and receiving full wrap-around supports and services to sustain them. This program is unique in that it provides services to all families with children exiting foster care for up to 2 years post discharge. Benefits are that by reducing re-entry into foster care and reducing the length of stay in foster care, costs of foster care placement are reduced as are the psychological difficulties of extended family disruption.
Keyword(s):
permanency, foster care, reunification, birth parents,
Core Function(s):
Performing Direct and/or Demonstration Services, Developing & Disseminating Information, Continuing Education/Community Training
Area of Emphasis
Quality of Life
Target Audience:
Family Members/Caregivers, Children/Adolescents with Disabilities/SHCN
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Specific Groups
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Single-County
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
