	Family Preservation and Stabilization Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

PA-FPS 7: Family Supports and Services

Families receive a range of supports and services that help them resolve pressing issues and improve child, parent, and family functioning.

Interpretation: When the case involves an Indian child, services offered by the tribe or local Indian organizations should be considered when coordinating the delivery of services.

PA-FPS 7.01

Families are helped to meet their basic needs for:

food;
clothing;
housing;
transportation;
health and medical care;
child care; and
financial assistance.

Interpretation: Resources should be culturally relevant and can be provided directly or by referral. In some cases workers may help families directly, for example, by providing transportation, and in other cases it may be appropriate to connect the family with services offered by other community providers. If needed resources are lacking or not easily accessible within the community, the agency should advocate for their availability. To meet these basic needs continuously over time families may also need to be connected to services described in PA-FPS 7.03, such as vocational and employment services.

Research Note: Research suggests that families receiving family preservation services often lack the resources needed to meet their basic needs. Some literature suggests that it may be important to address these needs at the beginning of service delivery, noting that it can be difficult to address other more complex problems if material needs remain unmet.

PA-FPS 7.02

Family members are helped to develop and apply desired and needed competencies in areas that include, as appropriate:

life-skills;
positive parenting and child rearing;
managing a household;
communicating and maintaining interpersonal relationships, including relationships with other family members;
decision-making;
using appropriate methods of discipline;
managing and coping with mood and behavior problems;
accessing needed community resources; and
collaborating effectively with children’s child care providers, pre-schools, or schools, as appropriate.

PA-FPS 7.03

Families are helped to obtain culturally-relevant community services needed to improve family functioning and promote positive parent and child development.

Interpretation: Needed community services can include: educational and literacy services, vocational and employment services, housing services, respite care services, mental health services, services for substance use conditions, domestic violence services, legal services, and children’s services (including educational, recreational, social, and therapeutic services that promote children’s physical, emotional, cognitive, and social development). To facilitate access to and reduce unnecessary duplication among services, the agency should collaborate with other involved providers, including, when applicable, personnel at the agency that makes the initial referral for family preservation and stabilization services.

PA-FPS 7.04

Families are helped to develop and expand their informal support networks, including connections with friends, extended family, neighbors, and community members.

Interpretation: When the case involves an Indian child, this may include assisting the child or family in applying for tribal membership.

PA-FPS 7.05

Crisis intervention services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Interpretation: Crisis intervention services may be provided directly or through a contracted on-call provider.

If an agency offering intensive family preservation and stabilization services uses an on-call provider when its staff are not available to provide services directly, the on-call provider should: (1) share the agency's approach to service, (2) have experience with family preservation and stabilization services, and (3) be familiar with families’ specific issues or have a means of promptly acquiring all critical information.

PA-FPS 7.06

When a program is designed to serve individuals with serious mental health needs, a qualified mental health professional is available to provide services, as needed.

Interpretation: If a program is not specifically designed to serve individuals with serious mental health needs, individuals who need these services can receive them by referral.

Interpretation: When the case involves an Indian child, the qualified mental health professional should be identified or approved by the tribal community to ensure that services are culturally appropriate and involve the family and tribal community to the greatest extent possible

NA The agency does not serve individuals with serious mental health needs.

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	PURPOSE: Family Preservation and Stabilization Services improve family functioning, increase child well-being, ensure child safety, reduce the need for placement in out-of-home care, and enable children in out-of-home care to return safely to their families.

RELATED FILES


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	OUT-OF-HOME CARE Services for persons living in environments outside of their usual households. Foster Care Services are considered to serve persons in out-of-home care.


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.


	INDIAN CHILD As defined in the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), "Any unmarried person who is under age eighteen and is either (a) a member of an Indian tribe or (b) eligible for membership in an Indian tribe and is the biological child of a member of an Indian tribe." For purposes of compliance with ICWA, the definition provided in the Act shall apply. For purposes of access to services and resources, other more inclusive definitions may apply (e.g. Indian Education Act, tribal definitions, etc.).


	INDIAN ORGANIZATION As defined in ICWA, "Any group, association, partnership, cooperation, or other legal entity owned or controlled by Indians, or a majority of whose members are Indians."


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	CONNECTED The means by which individuals access services that may or may not be provided by the organization itself. These terms are used interchangeably when individuals are connected to services either directly or by referral. See also LINKED.


	RESEARCH For purposes of COA accreditation, all forms of internal or external research involving persons served except internal program evaluation and outcomes research, or educational projects performed by students and interns that are part of their professional training.


	PERSONNEL The body of employees and/or volunteers that carries out the organization's tasks under the organization's administration and/or supervision. This definition does not include foster parents who are specifically referenced in relevant standards


	MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL A professional with specialized training and skills in the nature and treatment of mental illness and who uses this information to provide clinical, preventive, and social services. Mental health professionals include: psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric registered nurses, and social workers.


	CRISIS INTERVENTION The immediate response to the acute needs of a person in crisis including referral to appropriate community resources, advocacy, support, or direct assistance.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.