Program Goals

The goals of Safe Families for Children (SFFC) are:

• Deflect entrance of the family into the child welfare system
• Prevent abuse or neglect of the children in the family
• Support and stabilize the family
• Strengthen the family's protective factors

Logic Model

View the Logic Model for Safe Families for Children (SFFC).

Essential Components

The essential components of Safe Families for Children (SFFC) include:

• Hires the following staff to implement and run the Safe Families for Children program:
• Family Coach Supervisor
• Oversees Family Coaches
• Requires a Master's in Social Work, Counseling, or a related Social Services degree
• Volunteer recruiter
• Experience recruiting volunteers
• Family Coach (can be volunteer or paid)
• Bach and 1-year experience or lived experience
• Hosting: Provides safe, loving homes where parents may voluntarily have their children cared for while they seek to restore stability in their lives
• Partners with churches, local community agencies, volunteer families, and government organizations
• Must involve a child-placing agency in either implementing SFFC or in supervising another entity that is implementing SFFC
• Ensures proper vetting of volunteers
• Ensures home assessments are completed that meet national best practice guidelines
• Ensures proper monitoring of children placed with host families
• Receives referrals from child protection or other community agencies working with at-risk families
• Retains full parental rights with the parents of the children
• Obtains necessary paperwork (e.g., limited power of attorney) from parents for emergencies
• Connects parents with volunteers (i.e., serve without compensation) known as a Host Family who:
• Opens their home temporarily to children of parents who need to get back on their feet
• Volunteers to be a host family through their church community
• Passes a screening and approval process completed by the child-placing agency
• Returns children to biological parent immediately upon request
• Makes decisions for the children's care in case of a medical or other emergency but includes parents in all decisions
• Maintains open communication and frequent visits with the parent throughout the arrangement
• Contacts parent at least weekly
• Shares information about the child
• Develops a relationship with the placing parent
• Recruits the volunteer Family Coach(es) who:
• Monitors the safety of the child in the Host Family home
• Conducts home visits within 48 hours of the start of hosting, once per week for the first month, and once every two weeks thereafter
• Encourages and supports the relationship between the Host Family and the parent
• Facilitate visits between parent and children
• Actively addresses any concerns the parent has about the care their child is receiving from the host family.
• Determines parent's progress on the issues that led to the need for a SFFC hosting arrangement through check-in phone calls at least once a week
• Ensures that the parent is receiving the services they need including making referrals to appropriate services and supports to help them in meeting goals
• Has some child welfare experience and/or is an experienced Host Family
• Mentoring and parental Support: Provides essential extended family-like relationships and mentoring
• Recruits the volunteer Family Friend(s) who:
• Works with the parent whether or not they have their kids placed with a host family
• Mentors the parent to support them in making helpful changes to their lives
• Provides friendship, encouragement, and support to these parents
• Supports Host Families with babysitting and transportation needs
• Nurtures and protects children by caring for their parents
• Family Coach Supervisors: Provide training to Host Families, Family Friends, and Family Coaches Volunteers in how to respond to the needs of children and parents by supporting their educational, medical, emotional, and behavioral needs, and how to address symptoms related to trauma
• Introduces PC-Care (which uses aspects of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)) to all volunteers
• Encourages volunteers to utilize the principles of focused attention and praise with the children in the program
• Encourages volunteers to share PC -Care skills with parents and support them in learning to better manage their children's behavior
• Supports the parent in strengthening their protective factors

Program Delivery

Child/Adolescent Services

Safe Families for Children (SFFC) directly provides services to children/adolescents and addresses the following:

• Have a parent in a crisis and may struggle with noncompliance and difficulty managing emotions

Parent/Caregiver Services

Safe Families for Children (SFFC) directly provides services to parents/caregivers and addresses the following:

• Parents facing any crisis that prevents them from being able to provide safe and stable care for their children such as homelessness, lack of support systems, medical hospitalization, lack of childcare, financial difficulties, mental health issues, or domestic violence; lack of reliable social support able to assist with caring for children during times of significant stress

Services Involve Family/Support Structures:

This program involves the family or other support systems in the individual's treatment: In order to maintain familial connections and strengthen the network of support for the child while they are in the host's housing, children may have visits or phone calls with other extended family members outside of the parent requesting services.

Recommended Intensity:

Family Coach – weekly phone calls with the parent plus calls as needed with the host family Host Family – daily contact with children they are caring for and a minimum of weekly contact with the children's parent(s)

Recommended Duration:

Average length of stay for children in hosting arrangements is 45 days but it can range from 2 days to 2 years and parents may use the hosting program multiple times for assistance in caring for their children. After children are returned home, the volunteers maintain involvement with the parent 6-12 months after hosting.

Delivery Setting

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Community Daily Living Setting

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Languages

Safe Families for Children (SFFC) has materials available in a language other than English:

Spanish

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

• Host families need to provide housing and phone; may need car seats, clothing, diapers, and hygiene supplies which will be obtained by the Family Coach through donations or purchase.
• Staff needs Internet access, phone, and reliable transportation.
• Churches or other organizations that need to provide space for volunteer training and on-going support meeting.

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

Within the child placing agency (or the organization the child placing agency is supervising), it is recommended that the SFFC manager have a social work, counseling, or related degree though they may also be qualified based upon experience. A Master's level social service professional, or individual otherwise qualified based on a Bachelor's Degree and experience, is required to sign off on home assessments, to supervise intake staff, and to supervise volunteer Family Coaches.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Program Manual(s)

Manual details:

• Individuals or entities wanting information about starting a Safe Families Chapter can email info@safefamilies.net and a Safe Families representative will contact them to answer questions and start them on the process of starting a Chapter, during this process all implementation materials and training manuals will be provided to them using web-based portal after completing a licensing agreement.

A program manual may be requested at https://safe-families.org/involvement/new-chapter/

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:

• David Anderson, PsyD, Executive Director
  danderson@safefamilies.net
  phone: (773) 653-2200 or (773) 659-0037

Training Type/Location:

On-line training is available for both volunteers and implementers through the Safe Families for Children Community Hub: http://safe-families.org/community-hub/

Anyone can create a username and password to enter the Hub, but enrollment keys to access training can only be obtained from a Safe Families' implementing site.

Number of days/hours:

Safe Families Core Training takes about 3 hours to complete. Host Families complete the core training plus an additional Host Family module which takes almost 2 hours to complete. Family Friends require only Core Training. Volunteer Family Coaches complete the core training plus an additional Family Coach training which takes about 2 hours to complete online. Live training sessions are available at sites with approved trainers, and are typically scheduled to last about five hours. Additional questions and training review are provided by the Home Study Specialist when they meet with the volunteer family in their home. Family Coaches provide additional coaching as needed. There are on-going volunteer webinars on a monthly basis available online. Additionally, there are monthly webinars conducted by the national office for implementer sites in order to share updates and provide additional training.

Implementation Information

Pre-Implementation Materials

There are pre-implementation materials to measure organizational or provider readiness for Safe Families for Children (SFFC) as listed below:

The implementation process starts by contacting Safe Families at info@safefamilies.net. A Safe Families representative will lead the person or entity through steps to implement a Safe Families Chapter, this process includes an application to assess organizational readiness and common vision, creating a planning team, implementation plan, budgeting, policies review, fidelity measures, and readiness check list for implementation.

Formal Support for Implementation

There is formal support available for implementation of Safe Families for Children (SFFC) as listed below:

Formal supports include the following:

• A national services team for program implementation, policy questions, budgeting, fundraising, legal compliance, clinical supervision/support, marketing, and fidelity measurement
• Program areas work/consultation groups in leadership development, community and church engagement, and family support that meet on a monthly basis
• Monthly Implementer Webinars covering a different implementation topic are held every month
• Annual Retreats or Conferences
• Cloud management system (CMS) to track service delivery and program outcomes is available with a help line for training and ongoing support
• A web-based portal where all training, policies and procedures, fidelity measures, and other implementation are available

These supports are available to all Safe Families Chapters on an on-going basis.

Fidelity Measures

There are fidelity measures for Safe Families for Children (SFFC) as listed below:

Fidelity measures are required annually, in two sections:

• Organizational Standards which focus on the administrative structure needed implement SFFC to fidelity and are completed as a self-report checklist.
• Intervention Standards which focus on the direct services with families and are completed in a peer-review process pairing Chapters of similar size. Fidelity findings are included and monitored in annual program improvement plans.

Fidelity Measure Requirements:

Fidelity measures are required to be used as part of program implementation.

Implementation Guides or Manuals

There are implementation guides or manuals for Safe Families for Children (SFFC) as listed below:

SFFC has an intranet portal that SFFC Chapters have access to that contains all the information needed for Chapter start-up planning and daily Chapter management including:

• Practice and policy manuals and training available for administration
• Respite care (hosting)
• Parent mentoring (family friends)
• Community and church engagement (volunteer recruitment and support)
• Leadership support (Leadership Councils and Chapter Directors)

Clinical supervision is provided for Chapters operated by SFFC and supervision guidance is provided for Chapters operated by affiliate organizations. Materials and consultation are also offered for fidelity measures, budgeting and fundraising, marketing, and how to use the CMS. In person consultation is available from a national service team in all these areas. In addition, peer learning groups with consultants are available monthly in areas of Leadership Development, Church and Community Engagement, and Family Support. Each Chapter is assigned a supervisor from the national service team who help support their start-up and on-going support.

Implementation Cost

There have been studies of the costs of implementing Safe Families for Children (SFFC) which are listed below:

Testa, M. F., & Budde, S. (2021, February 15). Low-cost randomized controlled trial of Safe Families for Children final report. Report to the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. http://safe-families.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/AppendixA-SFFCFinalReport_Apr_15_2021_updated.pdf

Research on How to Implement the Program

Research has not been conducted on how to implement Safe Families for Children (SFFC).

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Additional References