SHARED FAMILY CARE PROGRAM GUIDELINES
Summary
The Shared Family Care Program Guidelines were developed
to educate individuals, program administrators, funders and
legislators about shared family care (SFC) as a model for
preserving or reunifying families. The Guidelines provide
a theoretical and conceptual base, as well as practical information
to guide public or private program administrators in developing
and implementing a SFC program. The Guidelines are divided
into eight sections.
Table of Contents
- Section I provides an overview of shared family
care (SFC). This section addresses the need for alternative
services, and how SFC fits into the continuum of conventional
child protection and family preservation services. It also
includes descriptions of several model SFC programs and
brief case vignettes.
- Section II outlines the basic guiding principles
and anticipated benefits of SFC. It also includes a general
mission statement: "... to protect children by offering
services to parent(s)n and children together in a safe and
supportive family setting which helps to preserve families
or to facilitate the transition to other permanent arrangements."
- Section III presents and discusses the basic
elements of SFC including: agency responsibilities, target
population, core programmatic elements, service planning,
duration of services, placement termination and aftercare.
- Section IV discusses issues related to host families,
one of the most critical and unique aspect of SFC. These
issues include: host family qualifications and recruitment;
host-client family matching; and host family responsibilities,
compensation, training, and supervision and support.
- Section V addresses licensing and liability issues.
Specifically, it presents the pros and cons of different
licensing options and different methods of insuring host
families.
- Section VI reviews various strategies for financing
SFC, and emphasizes the need to blend different funding
streams. It also presents a list of federal funding sources
and their potential uses (at the time of printing) with
regard to SFC.
- Section VII presents an eight-step framework
for designing and implementing a SFC program. The section
discusses each step, including the design of an evaluation
plan.
- Section VIII is a brief conclusion that warns
readers of a few potential challenges to note in the development
of SFC.
Also included are:
- a list of references and resources
- extensive appendices which present cost comparison data
for SFC and other service models, and include sample forms
and program materials.
To Order, Click here
For more information, contact:
Amy Price, MPA
(510) 643-8383
amyprice@berkeley.edu
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