Regulation .01 Purpose and Goals.
Regulation .01 Purpose and Goals.LinkCopy Citation
A.
The purpose of In-Home Family Services is to:
(1)
Promote the safety and well-being of children and their families;
(2)
Preserve family unity where children's safety can be supported;
(3)
Maintain permanency for children; and
(4)
Empower families to achieve or sustain independence and self-sufficiency.
B.
The goals of In-Home Family Services include:
(1)
Enhancing the parents' ability to create a safe, stable, and nurturing home environment that promotes healthy child development;
(2)
Preventing out-of-home placement of children when safety can be promoted to a sufficient proportion; and
(3)
Providing, referring to, and coordinating services needed to achieve or maintain family safety, stability, independence, and unity.
C.
The Department provides a continuum of service programs designed to achieve the purposes and goals of In-Home Family Services and meet the needs of individual families. The programs include:
(1)
Services to Families with Children—Central Intake (SFC-I) or Family Support Services (FSS), as described in Regulation .04 of this chapter;
(2)
Services to Families with Children—Continuing (SFC-C), as described in Regulation .05 of this chapter;
(3)
Intensive Family Services (IFS), as described in Regulation .06 of this chapter;
(4)
Families Now, as described in Regulation .07 of this chapter;
(5)
Continuing Protective Services, as described in Regulation .08 of this chapter; and
(6)
Consolidated Family Services, as described in Regulation .09 of this chapter.
D.
In each program specified in §C of this regulation, services shall be:
(1)
Child safety based;
(2)
Family focused;
(3)
Dedicated to work with families as partners;
(4)
Built on respect of the family;
(5)
Designed to build on family strengths and unity within the context of the family's culture and community;
(6)
Dedicated to prevent, reduce, or eliminate behaviors, institutional practices, and community conditions that may place a child, family, or community at risk of maltreatment;
(7)
Primarily provided in the home or community;
(8)
Flexible and based on the changing needs of families and children at various times in their lives;
(9)
Timely; and
(10)
Designed to achieve measurable outcomes.
E.
The local department may terminate services with the family at any time during the course of the intervention when:
(1)
The goals have been met and the safety issues have been resolved;
(2)
There has been a referral to another unit or agency for service; or
(3)
The family declines or fails to accept service, safety is not an issue, and other intervention is not warranted.