Chapter VIII:Protective Services 1412 - CPS IN-HOME SERVICES

II. FAMILY-CENTERED APPROACH

The foundational philosophy of the NC Multiple Response System as well as the NC System of Care is family-centered practice. CPS In-Home Services are family centered. Family-centered practice focuses on the family with full knowledge and appreciation for its dynamics.

The System of Care Principles are:

• Interagency Collaboration
• Individualized strengths based care
• Cultural competence
• Child and Family involvement
• Community Based services
• Accountability

The six family- centered principles of partnership are:

• Everyone desires respect
• Everyone needs to be heard
• Everyone has strengths
• Judgments can wait
• Partners share power
• Partnership is a process

The underlying beliefs of a family-centered approach to child welfare are as follows:

• Safety of the child is the first concern.
• Children have the right to their family.
• The family is the fundamental resource for the nurturing of children.
• Parents should be supported in their efforts to care for their children.
• Families are diverse and have the right to be respected for their special cultural, racial, ethnic, and religious traditions; children can flourish in different types of families.
• A crisis is an opportunity for change.
• Inappropriate intervention can do harm.
• Families who seem hopeless can grow and change.
• Family members are our colleagues.
• It is our job to instill hope.

This practice model, where the principles of family-centered practice reflect the belief that the family is its own primary source of intervention and determines who its members are is the major focus for CPS In-Home Services. 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 through needs assessment, resource identification and service delivery. Family- centered practice respects the family’s right of self-control and capabilities, and assumes they have the capacity to grow and change when provided the proper supportive interventions. Family-centered practice develops strengths, enhances potential, and empowers families to identify and resolve their own problems. This practice model through the application of family- centered principles of partnership allows agencies to achieve safe, permanent, nurturing homes for children.