COA - Council On Accreditation

	Family Preservation and Stabilization Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

Definition

Family Preservation and Stabilization Services provide support, education, counseling, advocacy, and crisis intervention in the homes and communities of families with children who are: (1) at risk of being placed in out-of-home care, or (2) returning from out-of-home care. Out-of-home placements can include, but are not limited to, placements in: kinship care, foster care, psychiatric inpatient care, residential treatment, and juvenile justice facilities. Family preservation is sometimes considered an alternative response to a Child Protective Services (CPS) intervention.

Note: This section is designed to accommodate programs that provide two levels of service: (1) family preservation and stabilization services, and (2) intensive family preservation and stabilization services. Intensive programs typically serve families with children at greater risk of being removed from the home, respond to referrals or requests for service within a shorter period of time, provide more frequent and intensive services, and place stricter limits on caseload size.

Families can face a wide range of challenges, including:

family violence, physical and/or emotional abuse, and neglect;

parent-child conflicts, including those that result in a child running away;

housing problems or financial distress;

substance use conditions;

mental health conditions or serious emotional disturbances;

delinquency or incarceration;

death, divorce, or separation of parents;

resettlement-related stresses experienced by immigrant and refugee families; and/or

special needs presented by chronic illnesses or handicapping conditions.

Note: The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which governs state proceedings involving Indian children, establishes minimum federal requirements for both the removal of Indian children from their families and the placement of Indian children in foster and adoptive homes that support the child’s connection to their culture and heritage. ICWA requires that active efforts be made to prevent removal or support reunification. Active efforts include full engagement with the family, the provision of more intensive remedial and rehabilitative services, and caseworkers who actively assist the family in accessing necessary services from outside resources. Family Preservation Services are just one option in a continuum of support services that may be provided to families to prevent removal or support reunification. As such, agencies should familiarize themselves with provisions of ICWA and its implications for family preservation services. The agency should have early and ongoing communication with the child’s tribe to ensure a full range of resources are made available to the family in support of ICWA’s active efforts requirements. This requires inclusion of tribal representatives throughout all aspects of service delivery, including, but not limited to, assessment, service planning, case closing, and aftercare. Additional opportunities for inclusion are identified in the standards.

While collaboration with federally recognized tribes is required by ICWA, agencies should reach out to tribal representatives in cases involving federally non-recognized tribes as well, as their involvement in the case will improve access to culturally-relevant resources and help establish a heightened sense of belonging and connectivity to the child’s extended family, clan, or tribe.

Local Indian organizations are not granted the same rights as federally recognized tribes under the Indian Child Welfare Act; however, there may be circumstances under which their involvement is necessary and appropriate. These organizations can facilitate the child’s connection to his or her tribe, inform the family and the agency of services available to the child, act as an advocate for the Indian child and his or her family, and provide ongoing support and information. This involvement is particularly important when the child’s tribe does not have the infrastructure to participate formally in the case or when the tribe is geographically distant from the child’s home and their participation is somewhat limited.

Note: Please see Self-Paced_Training: Family Preservation and Stabilization Services (FPS) in the Tools Index for additional assistance with this standard.

Research Note: Intensive family preservation programs were traditionally intended to reduce out-of-home placement rates and, consequently, placement prevention was initially the outcome of ultimate interest. However, more recent literature criticizes the use of placement prevention as the principal outcome measure and emphasizes the importance of also valuing broader aspects of child and family functioning, such as environment, parental capabilities, family interactions, family safety, and child well-being.


	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.


	ADVOCACY An act performed with or on behalf of others through direct intervention, empowerment, or representation. Case advocacy refers to actions taken in relation to a particular individual consumer. Cause, social, or systems advocacy refers to actions taken in relation to a common issue affecting a group of persons.


	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.


	REFERRALS Resource suggestions provided to consumers to address problems or needs that are beyond the scope of the organization's mission.


	CASELOAD The aggregate number of clients and/or consumers of service (including individuals, families, and groups) for whom a given employee is responsible. See also WORKLOAD


	PARENTS Parents can include: birth, foster, kinship, and adoptive parents. Please see service standards for more specific information about use of this term.


	IMMIGRANT An individual not born in the United States, Puerto Rico, or an outlying US territory, who migrates from his/her country of nationality or any country in which they last habitually resided and chooses to seek a better economic, social or religious life abroad. Immigrants, and children of immigrants, can be citizens, Legal Permanent Residents "a step toward naturalization as a US citizen" or non-citizens, either legal or undocumented without legal status.


	REFUGEE Those who flee their home country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion and are unable or unwilling to return to, or avail themselves of, their home country.


	CULTURE The customs, habits, values, skills, technology, beliefs, and religious, social, and political behaviors of a group of people in a specific period of time.


	PLANNING The process of specifying objectives, evaluating the means for their achievement, and exercising deliberate decision making about appropriate courses of action.


	CASE CLOSING A voluntary or involuntary process which occurs when an organization no longer assumes responsibility for providing services to a particular individual, group, or family. Also known as "termination" or "discharge."


	SPECIAL NEEDS A designation used in reference to conditions or characteristics of a person that reflect a need for special care, services, or treatment. When the term is used in the context of adoption services, special needs refers to conditions that make a child harder to place for adoption. This includes children who are members of sibling groups, older children, children with disabilities, children of certain racial /ethnic backgrounds, etc. When the term is used in the context of foster care it refers to the need for a higher degree of specialized case services and attention due to mental and physical disabilities. When the term is used in the context of out-of-school time services, a child or youth may have special physical, behavioral, medical, emotional, or cognitive needs that should be addressed or accommodated. The term is also used in other contexts. See also DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.


	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.).


	ASSESSMENT An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.


	AFTERCARE Additional services provided beyond the period of primary care that offer continuity and supportive follow-up.


	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 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."


	PREVENTION Actions taken to minimize and/or eliminate social, psychological, or other conditions. Prevention can occur at the individual, group, community, and societal levels and enhances opportunities to achieve positive fulfillment.