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

Our Program Includes:

  • Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS)

    These services are for families with children at imminent and immediate risk of out-of-home placement. Interventions will be completed in the home.

  • Family Reunification Services (FRS)

    These services help children in out-of-home care return to their families.

  • Families and Children Together Safely (FACTS)

    FACTS services are offered to families with children who may be in the home or who are returning from an out-of-home setting, but who do not meet criteria for IFPS or FRS services.

  • Diversion Preserving

    This program serves children ages 10-17 and is designed to divert children from out-of-home care. Diversion services are provided to families and children to stabilize the family system with the goal of diverting children from being placed outside the home in foster care or residential treatment. Families served in the Diversion Preserving program must be TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) Income Eligible.

  • Diversion Reunification

    To participate in the Diversion Reunification program, at least one child in the home has to be between the ages of 10 and 17. Services are utilized to assist in the transition when a child is being reunified from an out-of-home placement. DCBS worker must have a target date to return the child within 30 days of beginning our services. To qualify for this program, children cannot be out of the home for more than 15 consecutive months and the Cabinet must have had custody of the children for at least 24 hours. Families served through the Diversion Reunification cases must be TANF Income Eligible.

Services are provided at no cost to the family and are paid for by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

BCFS services are voluntary to the family, and the client has the right to decline these services at any time. However, the program may be required to be completed per your DCBS case plan. Contact your DCBS worker if you are unsure about participating in our program.

Buckhorn staff engages the family in a holistic and interactive assessment to identify their strengths and capabilities, as well as their needs. Services provided are goal-directed and unique to each family. BCFS staff is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to the families referred for services.

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

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For information about our FPP/Diversion program,

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