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Jefferson/Shelby Family Options
Program
To provide
caring and compassionate family preservation and reunification services through
education, counseling and advocacy, with acceptance and respect that is
nonjudgmental, instills hope and enables families and communities to reach
their maximum potential for self-sufficiency.
Family Options is a time-limited,
in-home crisis intervention and family education program offered in the Family
Services Division of the Alabama State Department of Human Resources.
Based on the Homebuilders Model
by the
Family Options is designed to
reduce the potential for danger, to promote self-sufficiency, and to minimize
the need for outside intervention.
Advancing the definition of empowerment as the act of making the target of
change the agent of change, Family Options seeks to work with families by
giving hope, engaging family members as partners, and teaching new skills to
enhance family effectiveness.
Characteristics of
Family Options
Immediate Response to Crisis:
Contact is made with the family within
24 hours of referral.
Treatment in Natural Setting:
All work occurs in the family’s own
environment: home, school, place of employment, and neighborhood.
Accessibility & Responsibility:
Family Options Specialists are on call
to their client families 24/7. Specialists
work flexible hours in order to accommodate families’ needs and meet with them
according to their schedules.
Specialists are available to DHR 24/7 as well.
Intensity:
Services are concentrated within a
targeted time frame and are designed to 1) resolve the immediate crisis and
teach skills necessary for the family to remain together (preservation), 2)
reunite families that have been separated (reunification), and 3) assist DHR
with permanency planning (reunification assessment). Preservation and Reunification Assessment
services are provided on average a minimum of 8 hours per week while
Reunification services average 6 hours per week.
Low Caseloads:
Family Options Specialists carry only
two or three cases at a time. This
enables them to be accessible and provide intensive services at a time when
families are experiencing the most pain and have the most motivation for
change.
Flexibility:
Family Options Specialists are trained
to provide a wide range of services from helping families meet basic needs of
shelter, food, and clothing to providing more sophisticated therapeutic
techniques.
Service Area:
Services are provided to
Jefferson County DHR and Shelby County DHR at no cost to the counties. There is no 1878 to complete. Family Options is available to attend any
pre-removal staffing or PDISP.
SERVICE SCHEDULE
- Services are initiated by DHR referring workers. Our Specialists will contact all
families assigned to them within 24 hours of the referral and will engage
with all families for the initial 3 consecutive days.
- Services are provided to the family in their natural environment at no
cost to them or to DHR.
- Services focus on family education through teaching, modeling,
role-playing, observing, and hands on skill building with the families
served.
- Specialists will have weekly contact with DHR by phone or through
email. Specialists will provide DHR
with their cell phone numbers to maintain contact.
- Prior to termination, the Specialist will invite the DHR worker to
meet with the family for the purpose of reviewing the progress made. Upon termination, the Specialist will
provide DHR a written termination summary.
This summary will describe the family’s progress towards meeting
their goals and will include recommendations
PRESERVATION
Preservation
Services are short-term (4-6 weeks), crisis intervention services
where a trained Family Options Specialist works with a family identified as
having at least one child who is in imminent danger of being placed out of the
home. The child’s imminent removal would
be indicated due to abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, parent-child conflict, child
behavior, drug/alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and/or mental health issues.
At least one adult caretaker in
the home must be willing to work with the Specialist. The Specialist will work intensively with the
family, helping the family identify its strengths and needs and to set goals
which will improve the conditions of the family unit, so the child(ren) can be
protected and remain safely in the home .
Family Options is a behaviorally
oriented, intensive, short-term, in-home, crisis intervention and family
education program. Families are assessed by their presenting strengths and
needs to determine the appropriate course of action. The primary treatment emphasis lies in
teaching skills to all family members so that these families learn to function
more successfully on their own. In
addition, the Specialists will assess the need for ongoing, long-term help and
make appropriate referrals if warranted.
In summary, Specialists will
serve as counselors, advocates, homemakers, teachers, and referral sources for
these families. The quality and
intensity of this specialized service will hopefully allow families to remain
intact.
REUNIFICATION
Reunification
Services are time-limited (8-12 weeks), in-home, intensive
services designed to help DHR reunify a family.
The service is appropriate when the child(ren) have been in a placement
for more than 30 days and the ISP Team
has reached a consensus that the goal is reunification. In addition, the ISP Team has determined that
the family can be safely reunified, other less intensive services have already
been tried, the family will likely not be successful in the reunification
process within a six month period without intensive services, and DHR plans for
the child(ren) to return home no later than the fourth week of the
intervention. The goals are:
- To reduce barriers that may prevent the child(ren) from returning home
- To assist in transitioning the child(ren) home
- To assist the family in developing a plan that will help maintain the
family together safely for at least one year
While safety of all family
members is of great concern, the safety of the child(ren) is of paramount
importance. Reunification Services do not advocate returning the child(ren) to
a high-risk situation. The goal is to
modify the home environment and the behavior of family members in order for the
child(ren) to return and remain home safely.
Family Options builds on the
progress the family makes during its separation and helps the family stabilize
and learn new skills to ensure the safety of the child(ren) when they return to
the home. The program focuses on teaching necessary skills.
REUNIFICATION
ASSESSMENT
Reunification
Assessment Services are time-limited (from 1 to 30 days), in-home, intensive services
designed to help DHR make permanency plans with a family through a “working
assessment”. The service is appropriate
when the child(ren) are in any out-of-home placement, DHR does not think the
child(ren) will be able to return home within the assessment period, and DHR
needs an assessment of family safety and stability in order to establish a
permanency plan for the child(ren). In addition, an ISP has been conducted, and
the ISP Team has identified that the family needs this service in order to
assist DHR in developing an appropriate permanency plan.
The goal is to assess and modify
the home environment and the behavior of family members by teaching skills and
observing visitation in order to assess and recommend a permanency plan for the
family. DHR will establish goal(s) for the intervention with the Specialist and
will ensure there are sufficient opportunities for the child(ren) to visit the
home in order for Reunification Assessment services to effectively assess and
recommend a permanency plan to DHR.
Recommendations will be provided
at the end of the intervention during an ISP and could include:
- Return the child(ren) home within 30 days and refer to reunification
services.
- Return the child(ren) home
immediately and refer to preservation services
- Implement other services/supports, then refer to reunification
services.
- Transition the child(ren) to a specific alternative out-of-home
placement.
Jefferson/Shelby
Family Options
After hours:
205-313-9010
Phone: 205-705-1010
Fax: 205-313-9031
