Family Support Project
Family Support Project (FSP)
The Children's Study Home Family Support Project provides services specifically targeted for three permanency configurations: 1) families in crisis whose children are at risk of out-of-home placement; 2) families of children who have been reunified from foster care or more restrictive placements; and 3) families planning for step down from a residential or hospitalization program. This program provides an extensive array of services to families and adolescents both in the home and the community. The core of this program is an active, intensive after school, weekend and summer service for adolescents living in the identified family unit. The program uses a community based `youth center' as a hub of operation. Services are provided in the community and youth center five or six days each week. Each youth is engaged approximately three weekdays and most Saturdays. Transportation and meals are provided. The program provides intensive in-home and community family support component, utilizing parent education, family stabilization and twenty-four hour support to promote safety and stability in the family environment. The focus of the services is to promote stability and permanence, and placement diversion. The term family is used to describe the primary immediate support system for the child, including biological, adoptive and foster parents as well as kinship placements.
The Family Support Project has an intensive day program providing at-risk youth a safe positive place to go after school and on some weekends to learn, play and socialize. This program is the backbone of this service and is designed as the core experience for adolescents, as the hub of communication and family support and as the foundation for engagement of families participating in the program. Transportation is provided for educational, recreational medical, dental and clinical activities. Working with local school departments, adolescents are delivered to the site after school wherever possible, and the program staff will provide transportation home. This provides daily opportunities to interact with families and monitor and provide feedback on the child. Safety and accountability are the centerpiece of the program. This means the adolescent is educated to or is making good decisions about what they do and with whom, being where they are supposed to and communicating about such with the adults in their lives. The youth's performance is also about being respectful of themselves, their families, peers and staff and solving problems in a safe and proactive way.
The staff provide mentoring and coaching to solve problems, improve decision-making and to build positive reciprocal relationships. Youth in the Family Support Project are provided educational support and advocacy, tutoring, as needed, and linkages to explore post secondary education. We support vocational training and promote skill building using PAYA and job exploration. We provide mediation to help youth resolve difficulties with peers and family members. Youth will be engaged in frequent recreation and leisure activities both at the center and in the community and may also receive 1:1 mentoring as determined by the treatment plan. Weekend recreation will include a variety of outdoor learning opportunities such as kayaking and hiking, including some overnight experiences. The youth engaged in this program will explore the local environment and have opportunities to "try out" a variety of recreation and leisure activities. Active exploration is a positive tool to ward off boredom and develop interests.
The Family Support Project employs two full time case managers who have overall coordination responsibility for development and implementation of the treatment plan and the delivery of clinical services to the children and families engaged. The case manager and on-call staff are available to intervene in child crisis situations and provide immediate safety assessments as well as being available as a resource to staff and families as needs arise.