Family Preservation Program
BCFS believes in families. As we serve Kentucky’s children every day, we want to make sure they are being cared for and properly looked after. Every child deserves a safe, loving home, and we are committed to strengthening home environments, especially if a child doesn’t need to be taken away from the family.
Our Family Preservation Program is about keeping families together. We help families in imminent danger of having a child removed from the home and placed in state-funded care. Our goal is to prevent unnecessary removal through intensive, on-site interventions, to teach families the skills they need to prevent future occurrences of abuse and neglect, and to reduce the length of stay in out-of-home care for the child/children.
Solutions Based Casework Model is a child welfare practice model based on three theoretical foundations:
Family life cycle theory
Relapse prevention/CBT theory
Solution-focused family therapy
Buckhorn provides FPP services in the Cumberland Region area of Kentucky, with offices in Somerset and Corbin. Services are provided through a short term, intensive, in-home crisis intervention resource based on the Solutions Based Casework Model.
Our staff upholds the following values and beliefs of the Solutions Based Casework Model:
Safety is our highest priority.
It is best for children to be raised in their own families whenever possible.
All people have the ability to change.
We cannot predict which situations are most amenable to change.
A crisis is an opportunity for change.
It is our job to motivate families and instill hope.
Family members are our colleagues/partners.
We can make life worse for families.
We must guard against the tendency to remake families into our own ideal image of a family.
People are doing the best they can.
Family members do not usually intend to harm each other.
It is our basic job to empower family members.
It is helpful for us to think of ourselves as “personal scientists.”
It is important to reduce barriers to service.
Program Objectives
Stabilize the crisis
which put the family at risk.
Keep the child, family, and community safe
by defusing the potential for violence (physical, sexual, emotional/verbal abuse).
Help families develop
the skills, competencies, and resources they need to handle future crisis situations more effectively.
Meet or exceed the objectives
for Child Safety, Permanency, and Child and Family Well-being.
Service components are utilized to prevent unnecessary placement of children, maintain children safely in their home, and facilitate the safe and timely return home for a child or children in placement.
Families are referred to the Family Preservation Program by the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) and receive:
Parenting education
Child development training
Skill-based teaching
Household maintenance education
Job readiness training
Community resource linkage
Emotion management skills
Other foundational development as necessary
Case Type:
1. Preservation Services
· Children must be at risk of removal from the home.
· Ages 0-17 years old.
· Family has an open investigation with DCBS which will result in an open ongoing case.
· Children identified as a candidate for foster care.
2. Reunification Services
· Returning from out-of-home care placement for whom services to the family will mitigate identified risks, preventing further maltreatment and re- entry into care.
· A plan to return the child home exists.
· The child/ren must be receiving overnight visits when FPP receives the referral in order for them to qualify for an EBP. If overnight visits are not occurring at the time FPP receives the referral then the case does qualify for non-EBP Reunification services.
Evidenced Based Practices used for Service Delivery
Homebuilders
· Imminent risk cases where removal would be necessary without services.
· Homebuilder’s is used when the crisis is happening to mitigate the need for OOHC placement.
· Services 0-17 year olds.
· Must have an Open Ongoing case or must have a plan to substantiate and open an ongoing case.
· Homebuilder’s Reunification: Must be children returning from OOHC.
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
MI targets caregivers of children referred to the child welfare system; has been used with adolescents. Families with substance use issues, parenting skills deficits, or mental health issues.
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
· Serves 2-7 year olds
· Experience emotional and behavioral problems that are frequent and intense.
· PCIT is a program for two to seven-year old children and their parents or caregivers that aims to decrease externalizing child behavior problems, increase positive parenting behaviors, and improve the quality of the parent-child relationship.
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
· Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is a program for children and adolescents who have symptoms associated with trauma exposure. TF-CBT is intended to treat children/ adolescents who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, dysfunctional feelings or thoughts, or behavioral problems. The intervention also supports caregivers in overcoming their personal distress, implementing effective parenting skills, and fostering positive interactions with their child/adolescent. After ensuring safety of the child/adolescent, TF-CBT is structured into three phases that include: 1) skill building for the child/adolescent’s self-regulation and the caregiver’s behavior management and supportive care abilities, 2) addressing the traumatic experience, and 3) joint therapy sessions between caregiver and child/adolescent.
Functional Family Therapy (FFT)
· Functional Family Therapy is a systematic, evidenced-based, family based and manual driven treatment program which is successful in treating a wide range of problems affecting families (including drug use and abuse, conduct disorder, mental health concerns, truancy, and related family problems) in a wide range of multi-ethnic, multicultural, and geographic contexts. FFT is a strength-based model built on a foundation of acceptance and respect. At its core is a focus on assessment and intervention to address risk and protective factors within and outside of the family that impact the adolescent and his or her adaptive development.
Note: All services are paid for by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services/the Division of Prevention and Community Well-Being.
For guidelines and more information, please contact:
Bobbie Bryant
Program Director
Office Phone: 606-526-8800
Toll-Free: 1-800-472-3678
Fax: 859-526-5924
Email: bobbie.bryant@buckhorn.org