Umatilla branch therapeutic visitation

Cost: The cost for the Visitation Coordinator for a six month period is $29,000 at 40 plus hours of service per month. Cost for a one year period is expected to be $58,000. Rent for the visitation facility for a one year period is expected to cost about $15,000.

Number Served: A minimum of 20 families and 35 children will receive the visitation services over a one year period.

Major Goals:

• Impact appropriate parenting skills and promote the attachment of the child and parent by significantly increasing the quantity and quality of contact between children in substitute care and their parents.
• Decrease in the amount of time the child is in substitute care by achieving reunification or initiation of the alternate permanency plan more quickly in identified cases where increased visitation increases the likelihood of successful reunification or where there would be a possible termination of parental rights if parents were unable to respond to services.

Targeted Families:

• Young children are the target population. The target population of children for this project will be younger children, who if unable to return home, would have a permanency plan of adoption. Seventy percent of the targeted population will be children ages 0-10 and 30 percent of the children would be aged 11-18. This is somewhat flexible in the case of sibling groups.

• Families targeted for this project will be those:
  • who have a case plan of reunification.
  • in which it was in the best interest of the child to have increased contact with the parent.
  • who could benefit from hands-on skill building.

• Families targeted would also demonstrate at least two of the following characteristics:

• Drug or alcohol abuse
• Mental illness
• Mild to severe neglect of the child
• Criminal involvement
• Previous termination of parental rights to another child
• Domestic violence
• Low income
• Teen parent

Project Synopsis:

• Contact between parent and child occurs early. It has been demonstrated in studies that parents who consistently maintain contact with their children have a higher rate of successful reunification. Before this plan was implemented, children in substitute care in the county had about one hour per week of visitation with their parents. These visits were often chaotic and had little structure. Supervision was limited to safety issues only and parents are given few directions on how to appropriately interact with their children. The visits usually occur in the CAF office, a somewhat uncomfortable and unnatural setting.
• Parent skill-building occurs in conjunction with the beginning of parental alcohol and drug treatment. It is not a requirement that the family make significant progress in substance abuse treatment. Increased visitation and/or parent skill-building does not usually occur until the family has made significant progress in drug and alcohol treatment. This can often be after the child has been in care for several months. By increasing contact between parents and their child early on in the case, it should reinforce to them to continue treatment and allow them to work on their parenting skills earlier.

• Contact between children and parents have increased, at a minimum, to double what previously occurred. Families targeted for this program have begun having increased contact with their children immediately following their assessment. These facilitated visits are in addition to the regular one time per week visits they currently receive. Contact between children and parents is intended to a minimum, double what previously occurred and ideally takes place for three hours 3 to 4 times per week.

• Visits occur at a family-like site away from the CAF office in a family-like setting and a more neutral environment. The site is a home and offers a kitchen so that the parent can prepare a simple meal for the children. The site contains an area for physical activity as well as comfortable furniture, toys and books as the parent is encouraged to hold the child while reading to him, to participate in interactive play activities with the child, and to straighten and tidy the room with the child at the conclusion of the visit.

• A team approach with the caseworker, skill-builder and the family, results in the development of a "treatment plan" for visitations designed specifically for selected individual families and their needs. A coordinator manages the visits. This project offers an on-site skill builder and visit facilitator to provide support, structure and assistance to families. Supervision of the visits are the responsibility of the contracted provider. Human Service Assistants (HSA's) from the branch provide transportation along with the foster parents. Flexible work hours during the five-day work week for HSA's allow their transporting of children to the center outside of the regular 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. workdays. In addition to paid staff, intern students also help facilitate visits and provide transportation of children to the visits. These full-time practicum students from a local Community College observe and document visits and give feedback to parents.

• The skill-builder provides feedback to the parents after each visit regarding the progress they made toward achieving their goals. The skill-builder works with all parents to ensure there is interaction between parents and children and that the parent is on task with the assigned goals during visits. For example, drug-abusing parents, who often fall asleep during visits, may begin skill building by having their child sit on their lap with the goal of accomplishing at least 10 affectionate strokes of the child during the visit. All parents are directed and redirected by the skill-builder during the visits to ensure that the visit is constructive and positive for the family.