Chapter VII: Child and Family Team Meetings

B. Guiding Principles and Values

While each Child and Family Team meeting should be tailored to the needs of each family, there are certain principles that should guide the preparation and implementation of every Child and Family Team meeting. The first two sets of principles are those that our entire Child Welfare system is built upon; The Principles of Partnership, and the System of Care Principles. Those principles are as follows:

Family-Centered Practice	System of Care Model
• Everyone Desires Respect • Everyone Needs to be Heard • Everyone has Strengths • Judgments can Wait • Partners Share Power • Partnership is a Process	• Child and Family Involvement • Interagency Collaboration • Cultural Competence • Individualized Strength-based Care • Community Based Services • Accountability

These principles should be integrated into everything we do in serving child/ren and youth and families. This includes interactions with family members as well as community partners and internal partners.

Specific to Child and Family teams are the following principles:

• Families are experts about themselves

• Families and community members should be partners in determining solutions and making decisions

• Meetings should be set up in a way that fits with and honors the family’s culture

• The dual role of the child welfare worker is both to ensure child/youth safety and permanence, and to help the family

Each time a CFT meeting is planned; these principles should be followed and explored to assure that the meeting is truly family driven. Below is a table that illustrates how Family Centered Practice is applied in Child and Family Team meetings.

PRINCIPLES OF FAMILY-CENTERED PRACTICE

APPLICATION IN CHILD AND FAMILY TEAM MEETINGS

The principles of family-centered practice reflect the belief that the family is its own primary source of intervention and determines who comprises its members.

The parents or legal custodians of the child/ren and youth decide with the social worker which family members and friends will be invited to the meeting. At most family-centered meetings, the goal is to have the number of family members and natural supports exceed the number of service providers.

The family is viewed as a system within a larger social and environmental context. As a result, interventions focus on accessing the family’s immediate and extended community in needs assessment, resource identification and service delivery.

The social worker and the family work hard to widen the circle of support for the child/ren and youth and family by preparing for the meeting and making sure the right people are invited. This may include relatives and other natural supports such as friends, pastors, and neighbors. At the meeting, the family and their natural supports are encouraged to share their concerns, identify the needs and resources as they see them, and come up with solutions that meet needs and utilize informal and formal resources.

Family-centered practice respects the family member’s right of self-management and their capabilities; and it assumes they have the capacity to grow and change when provided the proper supportive interventions.

Although the social worker must approve the service agreement and make sure that it meets the safety, permanence and well-being needs of the child/ren and youth, the family is encouraged to create the service agreement themselves. This is accomplished by the professionals first encouraging and considering the family’s solutions prior to making their own recommendations. Depending on safety needs, private family time may be used to encourage the family’s development and ownership of the service agreement. Social workers employ a strategy of asking for the family’s input rather than telling them what to do.

PRINCIPLES OF FAMILY-CENTERED PRACTICE

APPLICATION IN CHILD AND FAMILY TEAM MEETINGS

Family-centered practice extends into the provision of placement services by involving the family in developing and implementing a plan for reunification, partnering with the foster family in temporary placement; and if necessary, working to preserve the child/ren and youth’s placement in a new, permanent adoptive family.

Family-centered meetings include all of the people important in the life of the child/ren and youth. This brings together biological, foster, and adoptive family members.

Family-centered practice develops strengths, enhances potential, and empowers families to identify and resolve their own problems.

Family-centered meetings focus on and identify the strengths of the child/ren, youth and family. Showing respect for the family making it possible to develop service agreements that will work. Families are encouraged to identify their own solutions because it is assumed that they are the best experts on their family situations. Although the family identifies solutions and plans, the social worker must share the critical concerns and make sure the service agreement meets the child/ren and youth’s safety, permanence and well-being needs.

For questions or clarification on any of the policy contained in these manuals, please contact your local county office.

PRINCIPLES OF FAMILY-CENTERED PRACTICE	APPLICATION IN CHILD AND FAMILY TEAM MEETINGS
The principles of family-centered practice reflect the belief that the family is its own primary source of intervention and determines who comprises its members.	The parents or legal custodians of the child/ren and youth decide with the social worker which family members and friends will be invited to the meeting. At most family-centered meetings, the goal is to have the number of family members and natural supports exceed the number of service providers.
The family is viewed as a system within a larger social and environmental context. As a result, interventions focus on accessing the family’s immediate and extended community in needs assessment, resource identification and service delivery.	The social worker and the family work hard to widen the circle of support for the child/ren and youth and family by preparing for the meeting and making sure the right people are invited. This may include relatives and other natural supports such as friends, pastors, and neighbors. At the meeting, the family and their natural supports are encouraged to share their concerns, identify the needs and resources as they see them, and come up with solutions that meet needs and utilize informal and formal resources.
Family-centered practice respects the family member’s right of self-management and their capabilities; and it assumes they have the capacity to grow and change when provided the proper supportive interventions.	Although the social worker must approve the service agreement and make sure that it meets the safety, permanence and well-being needs of the child/ren and youth, the family is encouraged to create the service agreement themselves. This is accomplished by the professionals first encouraging and considering the family’s solutions prior to making their own recommendations. Depending on safety needs, private family time may be used to encourage the family’s development and ownership of the service agreement. Social workers employ a strategy of asking for the family’s input rather than telling them what to do.
PRINCIPLES OF FAMILY-CENTERED PRACTICE	APPLICATION IN CHILD AND FAMILY TEAM MEETINGS
Family-centered practice extends into the provision of placement services by involving the family in developing and implementing a plan for reunification, partnering with the foster family in temporary placement; and if necessary, working to preserve the child/ren and youth’s placement in a new, permanent adoptive family.	Family-centered meetings include all of the people important in the life of the child/ren and youth. This brings together biological, foster, and adoptive family members.
Family-centered practice develops strengths, enhances potential, and empowers families to identify and resolve their own problems.	Family-centered meetings focus on and identify the strengths of the child/ren, youth and family. Showing respect for the family making it possible to develop service agreements that will work. Families are encouraged to identify their own solutions because it is assumed that they are the best experts on their family situations. Although the family identifies solutions and plans, the social worker must share the critical concerns and make sure the service agreement meets the child/ren and youth’s safety, permanence and well-being needs.