User:BreeanaKoemans/sandbox

Family centered practices (FCP) is a type of child welfare service that provides support to families facing child removal the tools they need to properly protect and care for their children. The main focus of the practices is the child/children's safety and well-being through their communities and families. Family-centered practices include but are limited to all types of families such as: adoptive, birth, kinship, blended, and foster.

Description
FCP have different types of implementations that are involved, they are as follows: learning about the family, intervention planning, providing learning opportunities and information, interaction skills, beliefs and values of the family, family views, dynamic family systems, family therapy sessions, teaching non-judgment and the positives of non-judgment. The main focus to make FCB successful, it is important to learn about the family system and to examine a proper assessments and interventions that respect the family that is participating. The important point is to learn how the family functions so that appropriate assessments and interventions can be used that will accomplish an impact with the family.

The appropriate time FCP would be used as an intervention can vary. When looking at child abuse and or neglect for example, types of family centered practices can be used. It just becomes difficult sometimes to use FCP approach because some caregivers aren't "bought in" to wanting to change. Trials of family centered practices were used by the Washington State Social and Health Services and 6% of all participants were deemed to have success and see change. Other circumstances taken into account were the children whom were already removed from their home and placed into another home, i.e. foster care, group home etc.

Background
The idea came from John Sullivan PhD from the institutes of family centered services. The overall goal has always been to show families that they are the most important and influential beings in a child's life. These interventions were designed to assist in families that were already heading down a bad path where situations just continued to get worse and worse. The audience participating were taught positive peer culture and emphasized the importance of each individual's dignity, respect, and skills to be great. The first participants were brought to the attention of John Sullivan and they were from the juvenile justice systems, after success was proven, the family and children's social service agencies began wanting to participate. By 1989 there were multiple organizations using the FCP techniques. By the 2000s the practice spread to just about every state and the idea became a normal intervention in the lives of troubled, abused, neglected, and maltreated children and their families.

Applications
FCP focuses on the family as the primary unit of attention. The methods followed are the hallmarks to which the practice is successful: strengthening, respecting and supporting the family. The instructors are most likely social workers of some kind that begin their work by intently evaluating the family with their child/children and the family without their child/children. This process can take up to two to three sessions to fully complete. The main philosophy during the intense evaluation is to build consistent, ethical and effective child welfare practice within the family. Once the evaluation step is complete the instructor focuses on building a program which is completed by asking questions with the family and the child/children. The questions help the family feel as though they are building the program the way they want to and not feel as though the social worker is the being a boss and giving threats or demands to the family. This ensures that the caregivers feel as though they have authority which may lead to more positive outcomes of the program. The program concludes after a set period of time that is usually set by the court or the social worker depending on the severity of the child's case.

Effectiveness
Through treatments of the FCP the results from actual families do vary. The range of effectiveness is different because no two families are the same, each family who participates in the FCP has its own beliefs and values which the social worker must follow when helming create a program designed for the child/children. If after the evaluation step the instructor was able to find out the severity of the child's maltreatment status, the goal can be concluded as being met; even if FCP is not continued to be used, other steps can be taken to provide safety and well-being for the child.