Child and Family Team
A fundamental element of System of Care is the creation of a Child and Family Team (CFT) on behalf of any child with serious and complex behavioral, academic, social, and/or safety challenges, and their family. The Child and Family Team is responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of a unified Child and Family Plan that engages and involves the family and achieves close coordination of needed services and supports. The CFT is composed of family members, significant people in the lives of the child and/or family and representatives of the community's human service and education agencies that can provide needed services to an identified child and family. (Child and Family Teams are required for all service planning and delivery for children meeting CMSED Target Population criteria in Durham).
What does a Child and Family Team Do?
The Child and Family Team (CFT) works to develop a detailed and highly individualized service/support plan with specific, achievable, strengths-based strategies to address unmet needs and achieve goals. This plan guides service delivery and coordinates the work of the various participants using a wraparound approach. This is a focus on what a child and/or family needs to succeed, not just what the "system" wants to offer.
The Child and Family Team:
- is built around the family so that each family's special needs are met;
- works to ensure that services/supports are accessible to families and that they are offered at convenient times and locations;
- checks to make sure services/supports are working and suggests changes when it is not working; and
- evaluates the results of services/supports delivered to ensure they succeeded in meeting goals/outcomes identified by the family and CFT.
Who is part of a Child and Family Team?
Each "team" is different so there is no set number of people on a CFT and the team changes, as necessary, over time based upon the issues of concern. Child and Family Teams:
- require a parent/guardian's involvement;
- include the child (if the child is old enough);
- are chosen by the family with help from a CFT Coordinator (a professional who could be a service provider/case manager from mental health, social services, juvenile justice, the courts, the education system, etc.);
- include anyone who is important in the life of the child and family and anyone who knows the strengths and needs of the child and family including people who are part of the child's education, care, custody, or treatment and others who know the family and can lend support; and
- may include a family advocate who serves as a guide and support for the family.
What is the aim of the Child and Family Team?
- Increased collaboration among agencies and with families
- Support and build upon the strengths, assets, and preferences for each child and family.
- Development of one unified Child and Family Plan (CFP) that bases its strategies in the family's strengths (1 Family/1 Team/1 Plan).
- Increased involvement of the family's informal resources in the planning and delivery of services and evaluation of plan outcomes.
- Inclusion of parents as full and necessary partners in the care of their children.
What is a Child and Family Plan?
Child and Family Teams are the 'Heart' of the System of Care
A Child and Family Plan (CFP) is a coordinated service plan that lists in detail what is needed, what is expected, and who will do what.
A Child and Family Plan:
- lists the people and agencies that will work with the child and family.
- spells out what people will do.
- includes and coordinates other related plans, such as a child's Individual Education Plan (IEP) and any existing court orders, etc.
- includes a Crisis Plan.
(Crises will happen. The Crisis Plan spells out details such as whom to contact, where the child should go, who will take charge and what backup services will be used to help the child and family. Without this Crisis Plan, a child often ends up in an institution or residential placement when this could have been avoided. )
All of the structures and activities in Durham's System of Care are designed to directly support the success of children and their families through Child and Family Teams.
Child and Family Teams reflect the Values and Principles of the System of Care:
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Core SOC Values - Child and Family Teams are:
- child-centered, family focused, and family driven;
- community-based; and
- culturally competent and responsive.
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SOC Principles - Child and Family Teams provide for:
- family participation in ALL aspects of planning, service delivery, and evaluation.
- individualized service planning driven by strengths and needs.
- service coordination or case management comprehensive, integrated services with coordinated planning across the child-serving systems and into the adult service system.
- services in the least restrictive environment.
- prevention, early identification and intervention.
- human rights protection and advocacy.
- nondiscrimination in access to services.
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