Child Welfare
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Child Welfare

YAP delivers individualized direct services to families involved in the child welfare system that focus on safety, permanency and well-being. We build on strengths, help to overcome challenges and navigate complicated systems, and most importantly, develop positive connections within the family and between them and the community that are critical for long-term success.

 

The U.S. Child welfare system has been historically punitive by design, treating youth and their families as criminals and disregarding how social and economic conditions and racial inequities impact behavioral health; it has been a system that “rescued” children whose parents were deemed to be failing them instead of recognizing the conditions parents faced and working with them and giving them tools to become healthier individually and as parents. The child welfare system has historically divided families experiencing poverty, who disproportionately have been people of color. 

More recently, laws have provided opportunities at a structural level to mitigate the negative impact of the system on many youth and families: The Families First Prevention Services Act is significant in incentivizing family cohesion.

YAP delivers individualized direct services to child welfare system-involved youth and families, focusing on safety, permanency, and wellbeing. We empower families by building on their strengths and connecting them to accessible tools to establish and pursue positive goals in the face of economic and social challenges. We help program participants navigate complicated systems, and most important, develop positive connections within the family and in the community that they identify as being critical for long-term success.

 
 
YAP continually tailors services to meet existing and emerging needs of youth and families being served within the child welfare system, but most of our programming is designed for the purposes below.
 
Minimize Need for Placements
  • Early Intervention with Parental Engagement and Support
  • Intervention with Families that Have Chronic and Long Standing Need
  • Stabilization and Support of Birth, Foster and Adoptive Placements in Crisis
Expedite Permanency
  • Expedited Family Reunification
  • Recruitment of Permanent Family Resources as Needed
Maximize Successful Independence
  • Planning and Implementing Aging Out Transitional Services
 
IMPROVING FAMILIES
We provide intensive in-home interventions to families at imminent risk of losing their children to out-of-home placement, or to help swiftly return children to their home. Much of the work in this program is focused on supporting the parent(s) in developing effective parenting and life skills, positive community connections, and supporting a healthy attachment and bond with their children. Additionally, our programming is tailored to the developmental needs of the children in being served.
IMPROVING FAMILIES
 
REUNIFICATION PROGRAM
YAP works to safely reunify families who have children in residential or other out-of-home placement. Beginning while the youth is still in placement, YAP works with the youth, the family, the placement and the referring authority to develop a comprehensive plan that is implemented prior to the youth’s return home. Immediately upon release, intensive in-home services available 24/7 occur to ensure safety, facilitate smooth transition home, and position the family for long-term success.
REUNIFICATION PROGRAM
FACT SHEET
 
FAMILY IDENTIFICATION AND PERMANENCY SOLUTIONS
YAP finds permanent resources for youth lingering in care without a viable discharge resource. We work closely with the youth and referring authority to make positive, permanent connections with extended family or other caring adults from the youth’s past.
FAMILY IDENTIFICATION AND PERMANENCY SOLUTIONS
FACT SHEET
SUBSTANCE USE RECOVERY
YAP’s Child Welfare Recovery model blends the wraparound planning, case management, mentoring and positive youth development with an additional emphasis on recovery.
SUBSTANCE USE RECOVERY
FACT SHEET
 
TRANSITION-AGE YOUTH
Our program specializes in preparing young people for adulthood, focusing on permanency, education, vocational goals, mental health and substance abuse issues.
TRANSITION-AGE YOUTH
FACT SHEET