Adoptions & Family Foster
Care
Purpose…The
Adoption and Family Foster Care programs at Nazareth Children’s
Home are designed to find adoptive and foster homes for legally
free and at-risk children in the state of North Carolina.
In many instances, these children are foster children, who
over a period of time are unable to return to live with their
birth parents or with other family members. These children
then become available for adoption.
In many cases, their foster parents are the first ones given
the opportunity to adopt. This process is called “fostering
to adopt.” There are many benefits to this process.
Firstly, you already have an established relationship with
this child. Secondly, you already have had contact and possibly
relationships with extended family and possibly the birth
parents of the children. Thirdly, it is significantly less
expensive to adopt a child who is already placed in your home
as a foster child.
Target population…
Children from 0-18 years of age, either male or female, who
are experiencing parent-related, child-related or environmental
problems are appropriate for a Foster family. These children
should be able to benefit from a small family unit as opposed
to a residential program.
Admissions…
The placement of a child in the Family Foster
Care or Adoption programs involves a selection of a particular
home for a particular child. Selection is based on the child
and the family’s complimentary needs.
Interested
parties should contact the Foster Family Social Worker at
Nazareth Children’s Home. An application and records
should be mailed to the agency for review and to aid in the
selection of the appropriate family. The child is required
to have a pre-placement visit with the family. A final decision
to place the child with the family is made after the visit.
Recruitment
of Foster Families… Families interested
in becoming licensed as a foster family of adoptive family
with Nazareth Children’s Home should contact the Foster
Family Social Worker. A detailed home study of all applicants
is conducted as well as 30 hours of pre-service training.
We feel it is our ethical and professional responsibility
to obtain the best families possible for the child. Ten hours
of annual in-service training is also required. All approved
families are licensed by the Department of Health and Human
Services of North Carolina.
Home
Study… At Nazareth Children’s
Home, we also provide home study services of persons wanting
to adopt, but not foster. We, as an agency, require potential
adoptive parents to attend 30 hours of pre-service training.
This allows us to establish a relationship with the potential
parents as well as use the tools incorporated within the training
to assess the family for the home study. All potential adoptive
parents have to be fingerprinted and no home study is complete
until our agency has received a fingerprint clearance letter
from the State Bureau of Investigation.
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Teaching
Family Model
Teaching
Family Model… is
based on the belief that behavioral deficiencies are the result
of inadequate histories of learning and instruction. Accordingly,
our treatment programs were designed to establish and teach
the important behavioral competencies that the youth has not
learned. Through this model the day-to-day events in a youth’s
life become the basis for meaningful lessons on how to deal
with these events. Such events range from working out interpersonal
conflicts and the development of will power to learning skills
like cooking and shopping. Teaching takes place in a family-style
setting. Our programs will use the “Teaching-Family
Model” as its core but provide psychiatric and psychological
services through local providers.
Treatment approach of the Teaching-Family Model includes:
Professionalism
– In the Teaching-Family Model, being a professional
is not a function of your job title. We believe that being
a professional depends on the training, continuing educational
development, and the manner in which people fulfill their
responsibilities.
Family
Style Living – The staff promotes a
family-style atmosphere, while offering professional treatment.
Living in the group home the Teaching Parents interact extensively
with each youth to promote substantial positive change in
a short period of time. The family-style living provides the
opportunity to teach the social behaviors necessary to live
successfully in a family setting while modeling healthy marriage
and family behaviors.
Treatment
Components
– Five major components make up the majority of in-home
treatment:
Teaching
components provide a specific set of procedures to use when
teaching a youth a new skill, correcting a problem behavior,
or strengthening an appropriate behavior.
Self-government
includes a daily family conference and a peer management system.
The goals of these systems are to teach the youths rational
problem solving, decision making, planning, and to facilitate
meaningful youth input into the treatment program.
Relationship
Development – Staff implement both specific
skills to foster mutually reinforcing relationships and counseling
techniques to help the youth solve individual or personal
problems. Such relationships increase the effectiveness of
teaching and modeling.
Generalization
Procedures – Staff employ a system of
home-based contingencies and community education procedures
to assist the youth in generalizing new skills and appropriate
behavior at school and at home. This procedure involves using
“notes” that are filled out by teachers, parents,
or employers. These “notes” are behaviorally specific
to hold the youth accountable for their behaviors outside
of the group.
Training
– The training includes pre-service training, 24-hour-a-day
on-call consultation, monthly in-service training, and annual
statewide conference, and the annual national Teaching Family
Association (TFA) Conference. Pre-service training is eighty
hours of intense preparation for working with at-risk children.
Each program is assigned an experienced consultant that is
available 24-hours-a-day to answer questions concerning the
children’s problems and interventions. Monthly in-service
training is held. The usual in-services are four hours long.
A statewide conference is held in the spring of each year
for all participating programs throughout the state. The annual
national Teaching Family Conference is held in the fall at
host sites through-out the United States.
Evaluation
& Certification – Individual staff
members are eligible for TFA certification after one year
of experience. Consumer satisfaction surveys are sent to all
program consumers. A team of professional TFA evaluators conduct
an in-home evaluation of the staff member’s skills.
These two components of evaluation allow for a comprehensive
assessment of the staff member’s teaching skills. Results
are held to difficult and exacting criteria for TFA certification.
For further information regarding the Teaching Family Model,
please call us.
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Transitional
Care
Purpose…
Transitional Care is designed for children who have been removes
from family and placed in the state’s care for an indefinite
period of time. These children are likely to have been removed
from their homes as a result of emotional, physical, sexual
abuse, or neglect. Some of the children are adjudicated undisciplined
or delinquent by the court system. The children in Transitional
Care Program are unable to make use of a foster family or
incapable of developing satisfactory relationship with a foster
family. Placement in a foster home for such children would
incite a conflict of loyalties between allegiance to the natural
family and affection for the foster family. The children are
spared the problem of competitive allegiances. Transitional
Care may be the least detrimental alternative, for many children.
The Teaching Family Model is the program’s primary treatment
service. Psychiatric and psychological services are coordinated
through local providers.
Target
population… Transitional Care is designed
to care for children who are between the ages of 5-18 years
old, either male or female. The typical child is under 16
years old, as the children over 16 years old are referred
to the Preparation for Adult Living Program (PAL). However,
the Transitional Care Program is not restricted by age. The
children must be able to attend public school and benefit
from a group living environment.
Admissions…
Referrals are accepted from County Departments of Social Services,
Juvenile Justice and Mental Health. A state application and
required records of each child referral should be noted or
faxed to the agency. The Transitional Care Social Worker will
contact the person referring the child after the Admission
Committee reviews the documents. Our usual admission procedure
includes a pre-placement meeting, a pre-placement weekend
and then formal admission.
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Sponsorship
Program
Purpose…
The Sponsorship program is an important part of the overall
program at Nazareth Children’s Home. Visits with sponsor
families give the children much needed contact with people
in the community in which they live, go to school and attend
church. The program gives the children with few or no contact
with their own families, an opportunity to enjoy the benefits
of family living and to learn what responsibilities exist
for those living in a family setting. Many of the children
placed at Nazareth Children’s Home have never experiences
being an active participant in a stable, happy family unit.
This experience is vital to the preparation of the children
to accept their roles as useful members of their own future
families. The Sponsorship Program can help achieve these goals
when viewed as a serious responsibility by concerned families.
Procedure…
Families who wish to become a Sponsor for our children should
inquire by contacting one of the Home’s Social Work
Staff or our Director of Human Resources and Community Relations
at Nazareth Children’s Home.
A
sponsorship application form is sent to the family or individual
to be completed and returned to Nazareth as soon as possible.
After the application is returned, it is reviewed and an appointment
is made by a member of the Home’s Social Work Staff
to conduct the home study. This consists of a home visit with
the family in order to discuss the program and assess the
type of child that would best benefit from visiting.
The
family has the opportunity to meet with the child being considered
for visiting. The Social Worker will facilitate the initial
meeting and also be available for any support needed by the
family.
After
a Sponsorship Applicant has been approved, the Teaching parent
of the child will become an active member in arranging all
visits. The Teaching Parent has the authority to grant the
child the privilege of visiting with the family. Visit(s)
will not be denied, if at all possible.
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Preparation
for Adult Living (P.A.L.)
Purpose…
Programs of this type were conceived out of a need in the
childcare profession to better prepare young people for the
eventuality of life outside of the child care welfare system.
P.A.L. is a unique concept in answering this need. The program
is the result of a study of several types of independent living
programs from various childcare institutes. Our program is
designed to offer low structure in a residential setting to
children who can benefit from being more self-reliant while
raising the structure for those who are not ready for that
kind of responsibility. This program offers a type of security
that gives the residents an opportunity to practice life skill
techniques, teaching them to make appropriate decisions and
redirecting them whenever the appropriate decisions are not
made.
The
purpose of the program is to prepare the teenager to be self-sufficient
regardless of future vocational and academic choices. However,
Nazareth Children’s Home encourages and financially
supports those who choose the road of higher education. There
are many institutions of higher education in the surrounding
area…Catawba College, Livingstone College, Pfeiffer
University and Rowan Cabarrus Community College. Life skills
training, community awareness and pro-motion of individual
self-esteem is the basic responsibility of the program.
The
intent of the program is to provide these services for teens
who have no means of support upon the age of maturity, as
well as those who desire to take these skills and return to
their family in order to improve the existing home situation.
Target
population… this program serves males
and females who are 16 to 21 years old. An applicant should
possess the ability to demonstrate self-control and have a
general idea of future vocational and academic goals. There
should be an “independent” desire for the services
provided by the program.
Admissions…
applicants should apply by completing the State application
and mailing records to the Preparations for Adult Living Social
Worker. This will begin the admission process. The Social
Worker from the Nazareth Children’s Home will contact
the referral source for further action.
PAL Apartment Program...
It offers residents who have progressed through the PAL Program an opportunity to practice the life skills that they have learned (in an apratment setting) while receiving minimal supervision from program staff.
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On-Campus
School Program
Nazareth
Children’s Home in collaboration with the Rowan/Salisbury
School system provides fully accredited educations instruction,
assessment and placement services in an on-campus setting.
The program provides for all grades, K through 12. The Rowan/Salisbury
School system staffs the program with certified teachers,
aides and supervision while Nazareth provides the facilities,
clinical staff and crisis back-up.
The
program focuses on comprehensive educational assessment, amelioration
of behavioral deficits (that interfere with learning in traditional
classroom settings), individualized basic education plan and
the student’s integration into main-stream educational
classes. The initial phase of the program serves twelve students
with a final phase capacity of thirty-six students. The students
for the initial phase all come from Nazareth. Students for
the final phase will include placements from the community,
as well.
The
Basic Education Plan for the state of North Carolina describes
the common core of knowledge and skills that every child shall
command when he or she graduates from high school. It includes
instruction that is fundamentally complete and gives the child
a thorough grounding in arts education, English language arts
(communication skills), information and computer skills, second
languages, healthful living, mathematics, science, social
studies and vocational education.
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Acute
Care & Emergency (ACE) Program
The
Nazareth Children’s Home ACE Program serves children
who may find themselves with an immediate and unplanned need
for a place to live while a more permanent can be arranged.
The purpose of the ACE Program is to provide shelter care,
crisis intervention, case coordination, referral, medical,
educational, recreational, nutritional, social, spiritual,
and other concrete services that are necessary to assist the
child and family resolve the emergency which placed the child
into the program.
Child
abuse and neglect is coming out of the shadows in America.
The rate of child abuse fatalities, confirmed by the Department
of Social Services (DSS) has steadily increased over the last
decade. Determining the actual numbers of children who die
annually from abuse is complex. Some researchers have gone
so far as to estimate that there may be twice the number of
deaths as a result of abuse and/or neglect as are reported.
WE
have learned from many people’s experiences and a great
deal of research that the effects of abuse and neglect depend
on a variety of factors. Factors that influence the effects
of abuse include: Age of the child when the abuse happened;
Younger is usually more damaging, but different effects associated
with different developmental periods; who committed the abuse.
Effects are generally worse when it was a parent, step-parent
or trusted adult that a stranger; Whether the child told anyone,
and if so, the person’s response. Doubting, ignoring,
blaming and shaming responses can be extremely damaging –
in some cases even more than the abuse itself; Whether or
not violence was involved, and if so, how severe; and How
long the abuse went on.
These
are some of the issues that an acute care & emergency
program deals with for each and every child it serves. America
has undergone major changes in the childcare system to deal
with these issues. It has created a need for specialization
in childcare facilities. Nazareth Children’s Home has
targeted this specific population of North Carolina children
and developed a program exclusively for them. This program
will help begin the healing process.
The
Acute care & emergency program accepts twelve (12) children
ages 5 to 17 years old that are experiencing abuse, neglect,
domestic violence, homelessness, and other acute problems.
Children are placed in the ACE program for a maximum of 90
days and will experience a safe environment with caring and
nurturing staff that provide for their needs. Partnering with
the child, parent(s), the County Department of Social Services
and others, this program helps ensure that the children receive
the best possible services while at Nazareth Children’s
Home. The healing process is extremely complex and unique
for each child and family. It is critical that the first steps
of intervention and healing are done professionally!
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Therapeutic Foster Care
The Therapeutic Foster Care program at Nazareth Children’s Home is just one way our agency is providing quality services to the surrounding area. Our licensed Therapeutic Care Providers receive a minimum of 40 hours Pre-Service training. They receive 30 hours from the GPS/MAPP (Group Preparation and Selection/Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting) curriculum and 10 additional hours to include the following: dynamics of emotionally disturbed and substance abusing youth and families; symptoms of substance abuse; needs of emotionally disturbed and substance abusing youth in family settings; development of the treatment plan; medication administration and; crisis intervention. Once the Division of Social Services approves the Pre-Service training curriculum for therapeutic foster care, Nazareth Children's Home will implement this model for therapeutic home providers.
The agency also provides monthly in-service training to all foster parents, both traditional and therapeutic. The in-service training can be modified to be consumer specific and individualized if needed by a specific family. The agency’s in-service training focuses on such topics as Shared Parenting, Fostering the Sexually Abused Child, HIV/AIDS, Reactive Attachment Disorder, etc.
Therapeutic home providers will be “specialized” in at least two areas. This will open up placement opportunities and provide additional services to some consumers. For example, one family may specialize in medically fragile children and HIV/AIDS, another family may specialized in sexual offenders and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Our agency hopes that this will provide more placement opportunities for consumers with very special needs.
Therapeutic home providers will participate in all therapy appointments, medication review appointments, medical appointments and dental appointments. Therapeutic home providers will work closely with the public schools to assure that the consumers are successful in public school. They will be the ones who will assist with behavioral problems within the school setting. The therapeutic home providers will work closely with the case managers to assist with the treatment plan and the treatment planning. All consumers placed in the Therapeutic Foster Care program will be supervised at all times, unless a physician signs an order stating that this is not necessary.
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