Best Practices :: Intact Familes

INTACT FAMILIES

5.1 Framework for Working with Intact Families

5.1.1 Preface

5.1.1 Preface

The family is traditionally seen as the basic foundation of society. Children tend to do best when raised within their family. The act creating DCFS charges the Department with the responsibility of providing direct child welfare services when not available through other public or private child care or program facilities. Illinois state statutes define the program purpose in serving intact families as: "preventing the unnecessary separation of children from their families by identifying family problems, assisting families in resolving their problems, and preventing the breakup of families when the prevention of child removal is desirable and possible and when a child can be cared for safely at home." (20 ILCS 505/5(a)(3)(C))

DCFS has established rules and procedures to provide services that are directed toward ensuring children's development, safety and well being in their families' homes and preventing out-of-home placement (Rules and Procedures, Section 302.40). In addition, the Department has established rules and procedures to provide culturally sensitive services in the family's primary language. Standards established by the Council on Accreditation provide further guidance in the delivery of quality services to children and families.

DCFS professionals have the authority to intervene in the lives of families. By accepting the authority to intervene, the DCFS professional also accepts the responsibility to intervene. In working with intact families as professionals we hold the following values: respect for persons, client self-determination, individualized intervention, competence, candor and confidentiality/discretion. All recipients of child welfare services have a right to be treated in a manner that reflects these values.

In working with intact families, the primary focus of intervention is on the family system, understanding that the actions of an individual may impact on another and/or the family as a whole. Through working with the family to achieve a level of emotional and physical well being we can begin to predict possible outcomes for the family. When the family shows positive growth and progress, the risk of maltreatment will diminish or be eliminated. Conversely, when a family demonstrates an increase in risk factors for maltreatment, it becomes necessary to make alternative plans to assure safety and permanency for the children.

The family should be involved as a full partner since change is more likely to occur when the family participates in the identification of its own strengths, problems and needs. Family involvement must always extend to the selection of services needed, in order to ensure the family takes responsibility for its own future. Additionally, each family has its own traditions and values that the worker should respect, and aim to understand, while always remembering that a child's health and safety is paramount.

The worker/family partnership and the interventions provided to the family seek to provide for the safety, well-being and permanency of the child. This outcome is achieved by: (1) conducting activities designed to prevent recurrence of abuse or neglect; (2) resolving the problems that brought the family to the attention of DCFS; and (3) strengthening and better preparing the family to fulfill its own needs

Child protective (intact) services are relationship-based work. The relationship between the family and worker is unique. The worker should have a relationship with the family that is in many ways analogous to the relationship that the parents should have with their children. This means that the worker must conduct activities that are:

(1) Directing and limit-setting with the family. These activities focus on identifying with the parents which of their behaviors in relation to their children are unacceptable, how the worker will know whether these behaviors are occurring in the family and being clear with the family about the consequences of continuing unacceptable behaviors.

(2) Conducting at the same time activities that are nurturing and that the family may view as helpful. This involves helping the family identify what their needs are and actively assisting them in obtaining services. For example, if the family is having difficulty enrolling their child in school or obtaining public assistance benefits the worker will actively assist the parents in obtaining these services.

All of these activities will be more effective in helping the family change their behavior if they are done with obvious regard and respect for the family.

The alliance between the worker and the family will assist the family to open itself to outside influences aimed at promoting the family's desired change. The process of change involves continuous exchanges among the family members and between the family and its environment (outside influences). The family, in order to survive, functions in ways to be self-regulating, self-directing and self-organizing. Research has shown that a family going through disruptive or stressful situations will adapt to the tension of its situation and it is through this process that the family can re-define itself and increase its effectiveness. Therefore the crisis of state involvement is an opportunity for the family to make positive changes.

This guide to working with intact families takes into account the need for the worker and supervisor to comply with a number of Department rules and procedures while at the same time providing interventions that are individualized and therapeutic in nature. This guide will also afford the worker and supervisor the opportunity and ability to view the life of a case from the time in which the decision is made to serve the family as an "intact family", to the point in which the case arrives at a resolution. In a step-by-step fashion, this guide will take the worker and supervisor through the mechanics of casework, explaining what drives each activity, its purpose and desirable outcome.

Each stage of service in working with intact families will encompass the following components:

· Philosophy

· Purpose

· Key Decisions

· Practice (time frames, decision-making, and interventions)

· Goals/Outcomes

· Documentation Requirements

The stages of service in working with intact families are as follows:

· Accepting the Case and Preparing To Serve.

· Assessing Family Strengths and Needs

· Planning Services

· Supporting the Family through Change

· Evaluating Family Progress

· Terminating Involvement and Planning for Aftercare

5.1.1 Preface