6 April 2023
Beginning this year, Cornerstones of Care is accepting referrals for Parent/Youth Facilitation, a two-pronged, grant-funded approach that seeks to prevent older youth from entering the foster care system by engaging families in a meaningful problem-solving process and connecting them to community services and supports.
This new collaborative service is made possible by Kansas Strong for Children and Families, a federally-funded initiative through the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Parent/Youth Facilitation (P/YF) process is just one of their strategies to improve outcomes for children and families by supporting the full continuum of child welfare services.
“Cornerstones of Care became interested in participating in the program due to the potential it had to prevent families from entering care due to concerns that might better be resolved within the family when appropriate supports were available,” said Laura Walters, Director of Client Support.
P/YF is provided at no cost to families who qualify through a referral from the local prosecutor’s office. To participate in Parent/Youth Facilitation, families must reside in Wyandotte, Saline, or Shawnee County and be at risk for removal into foster care. Currently, the program is focused on youth ages 14-17.
“No one who supports families in Kansas wants to see a teen enter foster care or any other state system unnecessarily and without less restrictive interventions attempted,” said Justin Horton, Chief Programs & Innovation Officer for Cornerstones of Care.”
The process begins with a referral to a prosecutor when a youth is at risk of removal into foster care. Typically, the referral is made by local schools, law enforcement, Department for Children and Families (DCF), community organizations, or other private child welfare agencies. The prosecutor refers eligible families to the Parent/Youth Facilitation process, and the family decides whether they want to participate.
If the parents decide to participate, they partner with Cornerstones of Care for the facilitation services.
Cornerstones of Care has three team members, including Laura, who are working towards their Kansas-Approved Parent-Adolescent Mediator certification. With this certification, they will have specialized training and experience to lead the facilitation process. For one to three sessions, they work with a family to discuss issues such as school attendance and performance, curfew, social life, friends, household chores, privacy, and communication.
Together, they work toward mutually agreed-upon solutions to conflict and develop a written agreement that addresses the family’s specific interpersonal issues and identifies services needed to support the family. Upon completion of the process, the agreement and a summary report are given to the prosecutor and the referring agency.
In short, Parent/Youth Facilitation is an early intervention option for families that may be in conflict or reunifying after a separation. It offers tools for families to work through their challenges with the goal to decrease the number of older youth entering foster care and keep families together whenever possible and appropriate.
“We have been told to expect things to start slow,” said Laura. In other Kansas counties, it has taken some time for families to learn about the new intervention and choose to engage with it. “We will consider success to be navigating the process from start to finish with any families that willingly participate. Eventually, we would hope to increase our expectation for participation.”