Institute for Family Centered Services, Inc.
Dania Beach, Florida

Institute for Family Centered Services, Inc.

4101 Ravenswood Road
Suite 323
Dania Beach, FL 33026

Focus:

Children exposed to domestic and community violence

Age range:

0–6

Haley just can't seem to catch a break.

A survivor of domestic violence, she divorced her husband a year ago and started a new life with her children, Jonas, 5, and Erica, 7. Though she works hard, Haley has financial problems. She has had problems collecting child support from her ex-husband. Plus, the childcare options she has been able to find are proving too expensive for her single income.

It doesn't help that Jonas has begun hitting other children at the childcare center. If he does it again, he'll have to leave the program. So while Haley's been thinking about taking a second job, she worries that having to spend more time out of the house will only make Jonas' problems worse.

She needs advice, financial help, emotional support—the list goes on. At the Institute for Family Centered Services' Safe Start program, she gets assistance that addresses the needs of every member of the family.

A clinical specialist from the Institute visits Haley, Jonas, and Erica in their home and together they assess the family's needs. Over the next three months, trained mental health workers meet with Haley four hours a week in her home. They discuss effective parenting practices and explain that Jonas' current behaviors might stem from his exposure to the violence at home. They work with Haley to encourage her to seek the support of extended family members and to connect with her ex-husband's family to enlarge her circle of support.

The mental health workers also help Haley locate a new childcare center better suited to Jonas' needs and connect her to organizations that provide legal aid and financial assistance for childcare. Before their time with her ends, they point her to a local single mother's support group, where Haley can begin building a supportive network of people who are struggling with similar issues.

Interventions:

Intensive family-centered treatment*: The Institute provides three levels of familycentered services that focus on creating a safe and stable environment for young children exposed to violence through consistent, supportive interactions with a primary caregiver in the family's home. All levels of care implement play therapy with young children in a context that allows the primary caregiver to observe the play and learn about the child's needs through what is observed. The program also provides around-the-clock crisis intervention for the duration of services at all three levels.

• Project Support. Higher functioning families receive crisis intervention and stabilization, information on the impact of violence on child development, parenting skills training, child and family assessments, and linkages with community supports as needed. This intervention is provided for 3 to 5 hours per week over a period of 4 to 6 weeks, depending on need.
• Project Foundation. Families struggling with multiple stressors, who require education on child development, safety planning, and crises intervention, as well as families with children who display high levels of depression, developmental delay, or other problems receive a more intensive intervention. Crisis intervention and stabilization, parenting skills training, and linkages with community supports are offered for 5 to 7 hours a week over 2 to 3 months. Additional services focus on working with the nonoffending parent (or both parents when safety is ensured) in a group setting to discuss gender and identity roles and responses to violent experiences.These support groups last for 4 to 6 months.
• Project Hope. Families struggling with multiple stressors who are willing to attend to their co-parenting relationship are offered the same services as families in Project Foundation, with an additional focus on cycle-of-violence interactions.