FAMILYCARE SERVICES

(Collaboration, Advocacy, Resources and Empowerment)
We provide services to children and families in their community to the fullest degree possible. FamilyCARE offers flexible individualized services and assists families in connecting with informal supports in their community. UMFS provides the following FamilyCARE services:

Mentoring

 The UMFS Mentor Program is a professional, individualized, and targeted service for youth and their families. The program provides one-on-one support services to youth with emotional and behavioral problems. Mentors work closely with the referral source, involved professionals, and caregivers to formulate and implement goals and objectives. The mentor program promotes a positive future for youth and their families by providing services that lead to healthier individuals, stronger families, and caring and involved communities. The mentor program seeks to maximize interagency cooperation and maintain youth in the least restrictive environment.

Community Respite

Community Respite is offered as needed for the provision of temporary respite to primary caregivers with the aim of reducing family stress, preventing abuse and neglect, supporting family stability and minimizing placement disruption.

Visitation Services

There are two types of visitation services offered through UMFS:

Therapeutic Visitation
Therapeutic Visitation refers to contact between a non-custodial parent/family member(s) and one or more of his or her children in the presence of a UMFS Social Worker. The primary responsibility for the visit is to provide a structured, therapeutic environment where the child(ren)/parent/family member(s) are working toward identified treatment goals established by the parent/family member(s), the Department of Social Services, and the UMFS Social Worker conducting the visit. The UMFS Social Worker will ensure the safety of all participants.

The purpose of Therapeutic Visitation is to provide a safe, supportive environment between child(ren) and a non custodial parent/family member(s) to repair family relationships where damage has occurred, e.g. abuse and neglect, without the child(ren) being put in the middle of the parents’/family member(s) conflicts or other difficulties. This service is appropriate for families seeking to maintain family connections and/or reunification.

Supervised Visitation

UMFS Supervised Visitation refers to contact between a non-custodial parent/family member(s) and one or more of his or her children in the presence of a UMFS Social Worker. The primary responsibility of the visit is to observe interactions and to ensure the safety of all participants.

The purpose of Supervised Visitations is to provide a safe supportive environment between the child(ren) and a non custodial parent/family member(s), without the child(ren) being put in the middle of the parents’/family member(s) conflicts or other difficulties. This service is appropriate for families seeking to maintain family connections and/or reunification.

Family Stabilization Services

UMFS Stabilization Services improve family functioning and increase child well-being by providing individualized, flexible services to meet a family’s specific needs and in order to maintain or reunify families. These services include:

Family Reunification

Family Reunification services are provided to children and/or families who are planning to return home to their biological or adoptive family from an out-of-home placement. The goal of this service is to prepare the child and family for the transition to the home. Some outcomes of this service will include improved family communication and parenting skills as well as building stronger family and interpersonal relationships. UMFS staff will provide immediate, short-term support to children and families in a crisis utilizing our 24/7 on-call support.

Parenting Education/Coaching

This prevention service seeks to provide practical parenting education, role modeling, training, and skills building. This service will provide guidance and support for adoptive and biological families, as well as relative placements. The goal of this service is to help children thrive in their homes. The practical parenting education may include age appropriate behavioral management strategies, communication and conflict resolution skills role modeling, and coaching. Common areas of focus include grief and loss, attachment, and trauma processing.

Family Finding & Engagement

Family Finding and Engagement starts with a diligent effort to identify, locate, and engage families of children who currently live in out-of-home placements. Family finding is based on the belief that all children need lifelong family connections. Our goal is to find 30 family members in 30 days.

Once family members have been found, we develop a unique and individualized engagement strategy to enlist the support of family members and others important to the child or family to participate in providing important information helpful to the child. The end result may be reunification with family or next of kin or the establishment of a permanency pact.

Family Group Decision Making

UMFS establishes a family team and, in coordination with a community case manager, conducts a strengths-based assessment with informal and formal participants in preparation for a family team meeting. UMFS staff facilitates and ensures the development of a Wraparound Plan consistent with the needs of the family. This is a relationship approach that provides structure for decision making that empowers both the family and the community.

Community-Based Clinical Support

This service is provided to children and/or families who are experiencing conflicts in the home, school, or community. The goal is to strengthen the family by teaching healthy communication, conflict resolution, healthy relationships and overall functioning. UMFS staff will provide immediate, short-term support to children and families in a crisis utilizing our 24/7 on-call support.

Comprehensive Case Coordination

This service seeks to monitor and support families who require assistance with linking the services needed to stabilize the family, ensuring the safety, permanency, and well-being of the child. This service includes assessments, weekly meetings, behavior management, collaboration with other service providers, treatment planning, and counseling. UMFS staff will provide immediate, short-term support to children and families in a crisis utilizing our 24/7 on-call support. This service may be utilized after the Adoptive Placement Agreement is signed and services are needed until finalization.

Intensive In-Home Services

UMFS provides intensive in-home clinical services to children and families who are experiencing moderate to severe conflicts and/or multiple and overlapping diagnostic, environmental, or other issues. This includes children who have been abused and neglected, been removed from the home, or are being reunited with their families. We also work with children with specialized needs, such as emotional, medical, cognitive, and/or behavioral issues.