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Family Stabilization Programs

Scientific Ratings in this Topic
  • 1 Well-Supported by Research Evidence
  • 2 Supported by Research Evidence
  • 3 Promising Research Evidence
  • 4 Evidence Fails to Demonstrate Effect
  • 5 Concerning Practice
  • NR Not able to be Rated

Topic Areas

Topic Areas

Definition

Family Stabilization Programs are defined by the CEBC as programs designed to ensure the safety and well-being of children and youth in their homes; prevent their initial placement or re-entry into foster care; and preserve, support, and stabilize their families. Family stabilization programs are aimed at families who have come to the attention of child welfare services and are in crisis and/or facing imminent risk of removal. Terms commonly used to describe Family stabilization programs may include family preservation, family support, family engagement, home visiting, and place-based services (these are usually housed in a community or neighborhood center, but have an in-home component providing parenting classes, after school programs, and other family services aimed at supporting, stabilizing, and maintaining intact families). Family stabilization programs may include the services that are delivered to families through the differential response process.

  • Target population: Families who have come to the attention of child welfare services and are in crisis and/or facing imminent risk of having their child(ren) removed
  • Services/types that fit: Assessment, case planning, case management, education, and/or skill building
  • Delivered by: Child welfare workers, mental health professionals, or trained paraprofessionals
  • In order to be included: Program must specifically target prevention of out-of-home placement as a goal
  • In order to be rated: There must be research evidence (as specified by the Scientific Rating Scale) that examines changes in child welfare outcomes for families (reduced out-of-home placement, decreased recidivism, etc.)

Downloadable Topic Area Summary

Definition

Family Stabilization Programs are defined by the CEBC as programs designed to ensure the safety and well-being of children and youth in their homes; prevent their initial placement or re-entry into foster care; and preserve, support, and stabilize their families. Family stabilization programs are aimed at families who have come to the attention of child welfare services and are in crisis and/or facing imminent risk of removal. Terms commonly used to describe Family stabilization programs may include family preservation, family support, family engagement, home visiting, and place-based services (these are usually housed in a community or neighborhood center, but have an in-home component providing parenting classes, after school programs, and other family services aimed at supporting, stabilizing, and maintaining intact families). Family stabilization programs may include the services that are delivered to families through the differential response process.

  • Target population: Families who have come to the attention of child welfare services and are in crisis and/or facing imminent risk of having their child(ren) removed
  • Services/types that fit: Assessment, case planning, case management, education, and/or skill building
  • Delivered by: Child welfare workers, mental health professionals, or trained paraprofessionals
  • In order to be included: Program must specifically target prevention of out-of-home placement as a goal
  • In order to be rated: There must be research evidence (as specified by the Scientific Rating Scale) that examines changes in child welfare outcomes for families (reduced out-of-home placement, decreased recidivism, etc.)

Downloadable Topic Area Summary

Why was this topic chosen by the Advisory Committee?

The Family Stabilization Programs topic area is relevant to child welfare because a primary goal of child welfare is to strengthen families and prevent unnecessary placement of children and youth. Too often, children are removed from their families because there are insufficient services to support and strengthen the family and ensure safety. Agencies need to know about alternatives to removal and placement and which types of services/programs are most effective in stabilizing the family, building family strengths, and maintaining safety.

Pamela Day
Former CEBC Advisory Committee Member

Why was this topic chosen by the Advisory Committee?

The Family Stabilization Programs topic area is relevant to child welfare because a primary goal of child welfare is to strengthen families and prevent unnecessary placement of children and youth. Too often, children are removed from their families because there are insufficient services to support and strengthen the family and ensure safety. Agencies need to know about alternatives to removal and placement and which types of services/programs are most effective in stabilizing the family, building family strengths, and maintaining safety.

Pamela Day
Former CEBC Advisory Committee Member

Topic Expert

The Family Stabilization Programs topic area was added in 2012. Brad Richardson, PhD was the topic expert and was involved in identifying and rating any of the programs with an original load date in 2012 (as found on the bottom of the program's page on the CEBC) or others loaded earlier and added to this topic area when it launched. The topic area has grown over the years and any programs added since 2012 were identified by CEBC staff, the Scientific Panel, and/or the Advisory Committee. For these programs, Dr. Richardson was not involved in identifying or rating them.

Topic Expert

The Family Stabilization Programs topic area was added in 2012. Brad Richardson, PhD was the topic expert and was involved in identifying and rating any of the programs with an original load date in 2012 (as found on the bottom of the program's page on the CEBC) or others loaded earlier and added to this topic area when it launched. The topic area has grown over the years and any programs added since 2012 were identified by CEBC staff, the Scientific Panel, and/or the Advisory Committee. For these programs, Dr. Richardson was not involved in identifying or rating them.

Programs

Homebuilders®

Homebuilders® is a home- and community-based intensive family preservation services treatment program designed to avoid unnecessary placement of children and youth into foster care, group care, psychiatric hospitals, or juvenile justice facilities. The program model engages families by delivering services in their natural environment, at times when they are most receptive to learning, and by enlisting them as partners in assessment, goal setting, and treatment planning. Reunification cases often require case activities related to reintegrating the child into the home and community. Examples include helping the parent find childcare, enrolling the child in school, refurbishing the child’s bedroom, and helping the child connect with clubs, sports or other community groups. Child neglect referrals often require case activities related to improving the physical condition of the home, improving supervision of children, decreasing parental depression and/or alcohol and substance abuse, and helping families access needed community supports.

Scientific Rating 2

Family Centered Treatment®

FCT is a trauma treatment model of home-based family services that focuses on holistic, family-derived goals related to family functioning, preservation, permanency, and reunification. FCT is designed to help identify practical solutions for families facing disruption or dissolution due to external and/or internal factors, such as child welfare, mental health issues, substance use, developmental disabilities, and juvenile justice. A core belief of FCT is that families possess tremendous internal strengths and resources. Goals are collaboratively developed based on these resiliency factors. Families participate in experiential activities that address cultural, generational, systemic, and trauma-related influences. Achieving strong engagement and collaboration with families is a primary objective of FCT. The 4-phase model is grounded in Eco-Structural Family Therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy, enhanced by practitioner feedback and family input. Families internalize change by uncovering their inherent values and beliefs while restoring safety, belonging, and connectedness.

Scientific Rating 3

Family Group Decision Making

FDGM is an innovative approach that positions the "family group" as leaders in decision making about their children's safety, permanency, and well-being. Children and their parents are nested in a broader family group: those people to whom they are connected through kinship and other relationships. Agency decision-making practices that are planned and dominated by professionals and focused narrowly on children and parents can deprive those children and parents of the support and assistance of their family group – and can deprive agencies of key partners in the child welfare process. FGDM recognizes the importance of involving family groups in decision making about children who need protection or care, and it can be initiated by child welfare agencies whenever a critical decision about a child is required. In FGDM processes, a trained coordinator who is independent of the case brings together the family group and the agency personnel to create and carry out a plan to safeguard children and other family members. FGDM processes position the family group to lead decision making, and the statutory authorities agree to support family group plans that adequately address agency concerns. The statutory authorities also organize service providers from governmental and non-governmental agencies to access resources for implementing the plans. FGDM processes are not conflict-resolution approaches, therapeutic interventions or forums for ratifying professionally crafted decisions. Rather, FGDM processes actively seek the collaboration and leadership of family groups in crafting and implementing plans that support the safety, permanency and well-being of their children.

Scientific Rating 3

Indiana Family Preservation Services

Indiana Family Preservation Services (INFPS) are services designed to work with families who have had a substantiated incident of abuse and/or neglect, where the department of child services/child welfare services believes the child(ren) can remain in the home with their caregiver(s) with the introduction of appropriate services to the family. These services may also be utilized in the absence of a substantiated abuse or neglect allegation if there is an active in-home case. This service shall be for the entire family.

Scientific Rating 3

Multidimensional Family Recovery

Multidimensional Family Recovery (MDFR) is a home- and community-based family intervention that addresses parental substance misuse and child maltreatment. MDFR is designed to help parents involved in the child welfare system achieve and sustain sobriety, provide a safe and healthy family environment for their children, comply with child welfare or court requirements, and prevent further child welfare involvement. MDFR provides certain direct interventions and also facilitates engagement in substance use treatment and other needed service for parents and children. MDFR promotes change in six domains: self of the parent, parenting/co-parenting, children & child safety, family relationships, intimate relationships, and basic needs and resources. Within these domains the MDFR counselors meet (a) alone with the parents, (b) alone with spouses/partners of the parent(s), grandparents, and other family members; and (c) in conjoint sessions with the parent and spouse/partner, co-parent, grandparents, children, and other family members as needed.

Scientific Rating 3

Providence House Family Preservation Crisis Nursery

Providence House Family Preservation Crisis Nursery provides emergency shelter and crisis care for children aged birth through twelve years old. Additionally, it offers support to their parents/guardians through comprehensive case management services, counseling, parent support and education, links to community services, and up to twelve months of aftercare support following their child’s discharge from the nursery. The Crisis Nursery offers free shelter, 24/7 daily care, personal necessities, medical care, and developmental and educational enrichment to children for the duration of their stay, which can last from 24 hours up to 90 days until they are safely reunited with their own family or admitted in other long-term care settings. The Pediatric Crisis Nursery provides additional services to children with medical needs.

Scientific Rating 3

SAFE@Home

SAFE@Home is a community-based in-home safety management and parenting assistance service for families with unsafe children, who need protection. The program is designed to establish collaborative partnerships between public child welfare and community family service agencies for providing family-centered in-home service. Service delivery is intended to ensure children are kept safe in the least intrusive way possible, while also supporting a public child welfare caseworker’s ability to help caregivers make behavioral changes. SAFE@Home safety managers, employed by community family service agencies, assist in developing and managing in-home safety plans. Additionally, safety managers take a lead role in providing direct, often intensive, in-home safety services for parents/ caregivers and children. In-home safety services are individualized to sufficiently manage safety threats and provide basic parenting assistance, so children can remain home during the time that families are receiving ongoing public child welfare intervention.

Scientific Rating 3

Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams

START is an intensive child welfare program for families with substance use and child abuse or neglect built on cross-system collaboration and integrated service delivery with substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services. START pairs child welfare workers trained in family engagement with family mentors (i.e., peer support employees in long-term recovery) using a system-of-care and shared decision-making approach with families, treatment providers, and the courts. Essential elements of the model include quick entry into START and rapid access to intensive SUD treatment services to safely maintain child placement in the home, when possible. Each START child welfare worker-mentor dyad has a capped caseload, allowing the team to work intensively with families, engage them in individualized wraparound services, and identify natural supports with goals of child safety, permanency, and parental recovery and capacity. Strategies in both child welfare and SUD Treatment are designed to be trauma-responsive.

Scientific Rating 3

Cultural Broker Family Advocate Program

The Cultural Broker Family Advocate Program is designed to raise and address concerns related to disproportionality and disparities that exist in the child welfare system, as well as concerns that involve issues of fairness and equity. Its mission is "Supporting the Power of Families to Strengthen Communities." The core belief that drives the work is that every family regardless of race, ethnic background, or economic status will be empowered to develop their own strengths and capacities. The Cultural Broker Family Advocate Program provides brokering, advocacy, and support to families who are involved or who are at risk of involvement with the child welfare system. The Cultural Broker Family Advocate Program uses the model approach, Cultural Broker Paraprofessional; An Agency and Community Partnership©, with child welfare agencies to ensure that their practice approaches with families from diverse populations are culturally congruent and specific to their unmet needs. Through partnerships the program has developed with the community and the child welfare agency, cultural interpretations are provided to decrease the likelihood of cultural misunderstandings.

Scientific Rating NR

Families First of Michigan

Families First of Michigan offers families intensive and short-term crisis intervention and family education services in their home for four weeks (with the possibility of an extension up to a maximum of six weeks) using the Families First of Michigan model. Families First of Michigan workers are available and accessible to the family 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The workers assist families by establishing individual family goals designed to reduce risk of out of home placement and increase child safety. Families First of Michigan workers assist families in meeting goals by teaching, modeling, and reinforcing appropriate parenting and by providing concrete services and connections to community services.

Scientific Rating NR

Fatherhood is Sacred®, Motherhood is Sacred®

Fatherhood Is Sacred®, Motherhood Is Sacred® (FISMIS) is Native American Fatherhood and Families Association’s foundational program that is designed to help strengthen families by empowering and uplifting fathers and mothers. The program teaches core principles to help strengthen them as parents. Native people believe in the sanctity of many things: animals, mountains, burial grounds, etc., but the most sacred are their roles as fathers and mothers. FIS/MIS is a program for those wanting to improve family relationships, prepare to become responsible parents, reduce recidivism and substance abuse, and improve safety for their children. This course is uniquely designed with culturally relevant material to teach parents the vital impact of being responsibly involved in each child’s life.

Scientific Rating NR

Functional Family Therapy Child Welfare®

FFT - CW® is a family-system, cognitive-behavioral therapeutic intervention that addresses abuse, neglect, and associated risk/protective factors. Interventions are delivered by trained staff during conjoint sessions with youth and their families. Services are divided into two tracks based on initial level of risk. In lower risk cases, interventions are provided by case manager level providers and involve engaging and linking to community services. In higher risk cases, services are provided by therapists directly to family members. Sites may implement either or both tracks depending on need. Interventions are organized in distinct phases and include specific strategies for engaging young persons and family members into treatment, motivating them for change, assessing family patterns, implementing specific and individualized behavior change plans to address referral problems and relevant risk factors, and generalizing changes in multiple systems. Services last approximately 5 to 7 months. Location of services is flexible with most services offered in homes.

Scientific Rating NR

LIFE – Live In Family Enhancement

The LIFE (Live In Family Enhancement) program offers a unique alternative to traditional out-of-home care for families involved in the child welfare system. The program provides the opportunity to keep the family together while the children are in care through the placement of the entire family in a supported and supervised setting. The parent(s) and their children live together in a foster home for a period of eight months to a year. During this time, the LIFE Caregiver mentors, guides, supports, and serves as a role model for the LIFE parents. The LIFE Caregiver focuses on building and securing the parents’ attachment to their children, developing routines, building confidence in parenting abilities, and development of both new skills and a new direction for their parenting future.

Scientific Rating NR

Minority Youth and Family Initiative for African-Americans

MYFI in Polk County, Iowa, aims to reduce the proportion of African-American children in the child welfare system. Public child welfare staff addresses needs and concerns of African-American families and engages them as team members from the beginning of the case by utilizing Pre- and Post-Removal Family Conferencing and Family Team Meetings (facilitated by African-American workers). Parent Partners (alumni of the child welfare system) serve as guides and advocates for child welfare involved families. Culturally competent services, resources and support for families, training for staff, and flexible dollars used to meet family needs are also important elements of the program.

Scientific Rating NR

Minority Youth and Family Initiative for American Indian/Alaskan Native Children

Through culturally competent practice approaches consistent with the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and the utilization of American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) staff, flexible support funds, and community resources, MYFI decreases entry of AI/AN children into the child welfare system and increases reunification with their family of origin, transfer to tribal jurisdiction, and/or placement within relative or tribal networks.

Scientific Rating NR

Mockingbird Family(TM)

Mockingbird FamilyTM is a foster care service delivery model designed to improve the safety, well-being, and permanency of children, adolescents, and families in foster care. Mockingbird Family is grounded in the assumption that families with access to resources and support networks are best equipped to provide a stable, loving, and culturally supportive environment for children and adolescents.

It revolves around the concept of the Mockingbird Family Constellation, which intentionally establishes a sense of extended family and community. In each Mockingbird Family Constellation, six to ten families (foster, kinship, foster-to-adopt, and/or birth families) live in close proximity to a central, licensed foster or respite care family (Hub Home), whose role is to provide support. The support provided through the Hub Home includes assistance in navigating systems, peer support for children and parents, impromptu and regularly scheduled social activities, planned respite nearly 24 hours a day/7 days a week, and crisis respite as needed.

Scientific Rating NR

Parent Support Outreach Program

The Parent Support Outreach Program (PSOP) is a voluntary, early intervention program that focuses on a family’s strengths and needs and aims to help pregnant and parenting families thrive. The program is available through all Minnesota counties, and the White Earth and Leech Lake reservations. Families can refer themselves or be referred by community or social service agencies. Parent Support Outreach Program workers conduct comprehensive assessments of families’ needs and strengths and, together, make decisions about what services or community resources are the best choices for success. The overarching goals are to enhance the well-being of children and families, ensure and maintain safety for children, and support families so they can meet the needs of their children by themselves and through support systems.

Scientific Rating NR

Positive Indian Parenting

Positive Indian Parenting (PIP) is an 8- to 10-week curriculum that is designed to provide practical and culturally specific training for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) parents. Parents are assisted in exploring the values and attitudes expressed in traditional AI/AN child-rearing practices and applying them to modern parenting.

The curriculum is composed of eight sessions which draw on the strengths of traditional Indian parenting practices including:

  • Traditional parenting
  • Lessons of the storyteller
  • Lessons of the cradleboard
  • Harmony in child rearing
  • Traditional behavior management
  • Lessons of Mother Nature
  • Praise in traditional parenting
  • Choices in parenting

In addition, the historic impact of boarding schools, intergenerational trauma and grief, and forced assimilation of parenting are addressed. PIP aims to empower Indian families to reclaim their right to their heritage to be positive parents.

Scientific Rating NR

Programs

Homebuilders®

Homebuilders® is a home- and community-based intensive family preservation services treatment program designed to avoid unnecessary placement of children and youth into foster care, group care, psychiatric hospitals, or juvenile justice facilities. The program model engages families by delivering services in their natural environment, at times when they are most receptive to learning, and by enlisting them as partners in assessment, goal setting, and treatment planning. Reunification cases often require case activities related to reintegrating the child into the home and community. Examples include helping the parent find childcare, enrolling the child in school, refurbishing the child’s bedroom, and helping the child connect with clubs, sports or other community groups. Child neglect referrals often require case activities related to improving the physical condition of the home, improving supervision of children, decreasing parental depression and/or alcohol and substance abuse, and helping families access needed community supports.

Scientific Rating 2

Family Centered Treatment®

FCT is a trauma treatment model of home-based family services that focuses on holistic, family-derived goals related to family functioning, preservation, permanency, and reunification. FCT is designed to help identify practical solutions for families facing disruption or dissolution due to external and/or internal factors, such as child welfare, mental health issues, substance use, developmental disabilities, and juvenile justice. A core belief of FCT is that families possess tremendous internal strengths and resources. Goals are collaboratively developed based on these resiliency factors. Families participate in experiential activities that address cultural, generational, systemic, and trauma-related influences. Achieving strong engagement and collaboration with families is a primary objective of FCT. The 4-phase model is grounded in Eco-Structural Family Therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy, enhanced by practitioner feedback and family input. Families internalize change by uncovering their inherent values and beliefs while restoring safety, belonging, and connectedness.

Scientific Rating 3

Family Group Decision Making

FDGM is an innovative approach that positions the "family group" as leaders in decision making about their children's safety, permanency, and well-being. Children and their parents are nested in a broader family group: those people to whom they are connected through kinship and other relationships. Agency decision-making practices that are planned and dominated by professionals and focused narrowly on children and parents can deprive those children and parents of the support and assistance of their family group – and can deprive agencies of key partners in the child welfare process. FGDM recognizes the importance of involving family groups in decision making about children who need protection or care, and it can be initiated by child welfare agencies whenever a critical decision about a child is required. In FGDM processes, a trained coordinator who is independent of the case brings together the family group and the agency personnel to create and carry out a plan to safeguard children and other family members. FGDM processes position the family group to lead decision making, and the statutory authorities agree to support family group plans that adequately address agency concerns. The statutory authorities also organize service providers from governmental and non-governmental agencies to access resources for implementing the plans. FGDM processes are not conflict-resolution approaches, therapeutic interventions or forums for ratifying professionally crafted decisions. Rather, FGDM processes actively seek the collaboration and leadership of family groups in crafting and implementing plans that support the safety, permanency and well-being of their children.

Scientific Rating 3

Indiana Family Preservation Services

Indiana Family Preservation Services (INFPS) are services designed to work with families who have had a substantiated incident of abuse and/or neglect, where the department of child services/child welfare services believes the child(ren) can remain in the home with their caregiver(s) with the introduction of appropriate services to the family. These services may also be utilized in the absence of a substantiated abuse or neglect allegation if there is an active in-home case. This service shall be for the entire family.

Scientific Rating 3

Multidimensional Family Recovery

Multidimensional Family Recovery (MDFR) is a home- and community-based family intervention that addresses parental substance misuse and child maltreatment. MDFR is designed to help parents involved in the child welfare system achieve and sustain sobriety, provide a safe and healthy family environment for their children, comply with child welfare or court requirements, and prevent further child welfare involvement. MDFR provides certain direct interventions and also facilitates engagement in substance use treatment and other needed service for parents and children. MDFR promotes change in six domains: self of the parent, parenting/co-parenting, children & child safety, family relationships, intimate relationships, and basic needs and resources. Within these domains the MDFR counselors meet (a) alone with the parents, (b) alone with spouses/partners of the parent(s), grandparents, and other family members; and (c) in conjoint sessions with the parent and spouse/partner, co-parent, grandparents, children, and other family members as needed.

Scientific Rating 3

Providence House Family Preservation Crisis Nursery

Providence House Family Preservation Crisis Nursery provides emergency shelter and crisis care for children aged birth through twelve years old. Additionally, it offers support to their parents/guardians through comprehensive case management services, counseling, parent support and education, links to community services, and up to twelve months of aftercare support following their child’s discharge from the nursery. The Crisis Nursery offers free shelter, 24/7 daily care, personal necessities, medical care, and developmental and educational enrichment to children for the duration of their stay, which can last from 24 hours up to 90 days until they are safely reunited with their own family or admitted in other long-term care settings. The Pediatric Crisis Nursery provides additional services to children with medical needs.

Scientific Rating 3

SAFE@Home

SAFE@Home is a community-based in-home safety management and parenting assistance service for families with unsafe children, who need protection. The program is designed to establish collaborative partnerships between public child welfare and community family service agencies for providing family-centered in-home service. Service delivery is intended to ensure children are kept safe in the least intrusive way possible, while also supporting a public child welfare caseworker’s ability to help caregivers make behavioral changes. SAFE@Home safety managers, employed by community family service agencies, assist in developing and managing in-home safety plans. Additionally, safety managers take a lead role in providing direct, often intensive, in-home safety services for parents/ caregivers and children. In-home safety services are individualized to sufficiently manage safety threats and provide basic parenting assistance, so children can remain home during the time that families are receiving ongoing public child welfare intervention.

Scientific Rating 3

Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams

START is an intensive child welfare program for families with substance use and child abuse or neglect built on cross-system collaboration and integrated service delivery with substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services. START pairs child welfare workers trained in family engagement with family mentors (i.e., peer support employees in long-term recovery) using a system-of-care and shared decision-making approach with families, treatment providers, and the courts. Essential elements of the model include quick entry into START and rapid access to intensive SUD treatment services to safely maintain child placement in the home, when possible. Each START child welfare worker-mentor dyad has a capped caseload, allowing the team to work intensively with families, engage them in individualized wraparound services, and identify natural supports with goals of child safety, permanency, and parental recovery and capacity. Strategies in both child welfare and SUD Treatment are designed to be trauma-responsive.

Scientific Rating 3

Cultural Broker Family Advocate Program

The Cultural Broker Family Advocate Program is designed to raise and address concerns related to disproportionality and disparities that exist in the child welfare system, as well as concerns that involve issues of fairness and equity. Its mission is "Supporting the Power of Families to Strengthen Communities." The core belief that drives the work is that every family regardless of race, ethnic background, or economic status will be empowered to develop their own strengths and capacities. The Cultural Broker Family Advocate Program provides brokering, advocacy, and support to families who are involved or who are at risk of involvement with the child welfare system. The Cultural Broker Family Advocate Program uses the model approach, Cultural Broker Paraprofessional; An Agency and Community Partnership©, with child welfare agencies to ensure that their practice approaches with families from diverse populations are culturally congruent and specific to their unmet needs. Through partnerships the program has developed with the community and the child welfare agency, cultural interpretations are provided to decrease the likelihood of cultural misunderstandings.

Scientific Rating NR

Families First of Michigan

Families First of Michigan offers families intensive and short-term crisis intervention and family education services in their home for four weeks (with the possibility of an extension up to a maximum of six weeks) using the Families First of Michigan model. Families First of Michigan workers are available and accessible to the family 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The workers assist families by establishing individual family goals designed to reduce risk of out of home placement and increase child safety. Families First of Michigan workers assist families in meeting goals by teaching, modeling, and reinforcing appropriate parenting and by providing concrete services and connections to community services.

Scientific Rating NR

Fatherhood is Sacred®, Motherhood is Sacred®

Fatherhood Is Sacred®, Motherhood Is Sacred® (FISMIS) is Native American Fatherhood and Families Association’s foundational program that is designed to help strengthen families by empowering and uplifting fathers and mothers. The program teaches core principles to help strengthen them as parents. Native people believe in the sanctity of many things: animals, mountains, burial grounds, etc., but the most sacred are their roles as fathers and mothers. FIS/MIS is a program for those wanting to improve family relationships, prepare to become responsible parents, reduce recidivism and substance abuse, and improve safety for their children. This course is uniquely designed with culturally relevant material to teach parents the vital impact of being responsibly involved in each child’s life.

Scientific Rating NR

Functional Family Therapy Child Welfare®

FFT - CW® is a family-system, cognitive-behavioral therapeutic intervention that addresses abuse, neglect, and associated risk/protective factors. Interventions are delivered by trained staff during conjoint sessions with youth and their families. Services are divided into two tracks based on initial level of risk. In lower risk cases, interventions are provided by case manager level providers and involve engaging and linking to community services. In higher risk cases, services are provided by therapists directly to family members. Sites may implement either or both tracks depending on need. Interventions are organized in distinct phases and include specific strategies for engaging young persons and family members into treatment, motivating them for change, assessing family patterns, implementing specific and individualized behavior change plans to address referral problems and relevant risk factors, and generalizing changes in multiple systems. Services last approximately 5 to 7 months. Location of services is flexible with most services offered in homes.

Scientific Rating NR

LIFE – Live In Family Enhancement

The LIFE (Live In Family Enhancement) program offers a unique alternative to traditional out-of-home care for families involved in the child welfare system. The program provides the opportunity to keep the family together while the children are in care through the placement of the entire family in a supported and supervised setting. The parent(s) and their children live together in a foster home for a period of eight months to a year. During this time, the LIFE Caregiver mentors, guides, supports, and serves as a role model for the LIFE parents. The LIFE Caregiver focuses on building and securing the parents’ attachment to their children, developing routines, building confidence in parenting abilities, and development of both new skills and a new direction for their parenting future.

Scientific Rating NR

Minority Youth and Family Initiative for African-Americans

MYFI in Polk County, Iowa, aims to reduce the proportion of African-American children in the child welfare system. Public child welfare staff addresses needs and concerns of African-American families and engages them as team members from the beginning of the case by utilizing Pre- and Post-Removal Family Conferencing and Family Team Meetings (facilitated by African-American workers). Parent Partners (alumni of the child welfare system) serve as guides and advocates for child welfare involved families. Culturally competent services, resources and support for families, training for staff, and flexible dollars used to meet family needs are also important elements of the program.

Scientific Rating NR

Minority Youth and Family Initiative for American Indian/Alaskan Native Children

Through culturally competent practice approaches consistent with the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and the utilization of American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) staff, flexible support funds, and community resources, MYFI decreases entry of AI/AN children into the child welfare system and increases reunification with their family of origin, transfer to tribal jurisdiction, and/or placement within relative or tribal networks.

Scientific Rating NR

Mockingbird Family(TM)

Mockingbird FamilyTM is a foster care service delivery model designed to improve the safety, well-being, and permanency of children, adolescents, and families in foster care. Mockingbird Family is grounded in the assumption that families with access to resources and support networks are best equipped to provide a stable, loving, and culturally supportive environment for children and adolescents.

It revolves around the concept of the Mockingbird Family Constellation, which intentionally establishes a sense of extended family and community. In each Mockingbird Family Constellation, six to ten families (foster, kinship, foster-to-adopt, and/or birth families) live in close proximity to a central, licensed foster or respite care family (Hub Home), whose role is to provide support. The support provided through the Hub Home includes assistance in navigating systems, peer support for children and parents, impromptu and regularly scheduled social activities, planned respite nearly 24 hours a day/7 days a week, and crisis respite as needed.

Scientific Rating NR

Parent Support Outreach Program

The Parent Support Outreach Program (PSOP) is a voluntary, early intervention program that focuses on a family’s strengths and needs and aims to help pregnant and parenting families thrive. The program is available through all Minnesota counties, and the White Earth and Leech Lake reservations. Families can refer themselves or be referred by community or social service agencies. Parent Support Outreach Program workers conduct comprehensive assessments of families’ needs and strengths and, together, make decisions about what services or community resources are the best choices for success. The overarching goals are to enhance the well-being of children and families, ensure and maintain safety for children, and support families so they can meet the needs of their children by themselves and through support systems.

Scientific Rating NR

Positive Indian Parenting

Positive Indian Parenting (PIP) is an 8- to 10-week curriculum that is designed to provide practical and culturally specific training for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) parents. Parents are assisted in exploring the values and attitudes expressed in traditional AI/AN child-rearing practices and applying them to modern parenting.

The curriculum is composed of eight sessions which draw on the strengths of traditional Indian parenting practices including:

  • Traditional parenting
  • Lessons of the storyteller
  • Lessons of the cradleboard
  • Harmony in child rearing
  • Traditional behavior management
  • Lessons of Mother Nature
  • Praise in traditional parenting
  • Choices in parenting

In addition, the historic impact of boarding schools, intergenerational trauma and grief, and forced assimilation of parenting are addressed. PIP aims to empower Indian families to reclaim their right to their heritage to be positive parents.

Scientific Rating NR