- February 11, 2021
- Posted by: admin
- Categories:
Child, Youth and Families Services (CYFS)
We work with children and families by providing Out of Home care and other direct services, demonstrating approaches that strengthen child and family safety and stability, address trauma, promote healing and improve well-being.
Child, Youth and Family Residential Care
Resources and information about out-of-home care (also called foster care), including family foster care, kinship care, treatment foster care, and residential and group care. Includes information on working with children and youth in out-of-home care; working with birth families; recruiting, preparing, and supporting resource families (i.e., foster, adoptive, and kinship families); independent living services; placement decisions and stability; and systemwide issues.
Overview
Prioritising the inclusion of biological parents and appropriate family in the initial placement and case-planning process once a child has been removed is crucial. Not only is the child welfare agency required to provide services to achieve family reunification—except in extreme circumstances—before pursuing any other permanency goals, but maintaining the integrity of the parent-child bond is essential to healthy child development. When it is safe to do so, parents should be encouraged to remain a vital part of their children’s lives, including attending appointments, school events, and participating in their daily care and routines. Out-of-home care encompasses the importance of family and should always operate as a support for the family rather than as a substitute for the parent.
About the children
Children and teens enter foster care through no fault of their own, because they have been abused, neglected, or abandoned and are unable to continue living safely with their families, they range in age from infants to 17 years old (in some states). The average age of a child in foster care is more than 8 years old, and there are slightly more boys than girls.
Children and youth enter foster care because they have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by their parents or guardians. All of these children have experienced and lost some form of trauma. In other ways, foster children are no different from children who aren’t in foster care: they are learning and growing, like to play and hang out with friends their age, and need the love and stability a permanent home provides.
