Emergency Response Services
Emergency Response workers investigate reports of children maltreatment. While protection of the child is goal, maintaining the family unit is emphasized whenever possible. Emergency Response Services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Emergency Response Units also provide short-term intensive services to stabilize the family so that children can be safe and receive appropriate care. Emphasis is on crisis intervention, removing barriers to keeping children safe with their families, and avoiding further intervention, such as Juvenile Court action.
Family Maintenance Services
Family Maintenance Services provides time-limited services to children in their homes, aimed at preventing or correcting neglect or abuse. A primary goal of Family Maintenance Services is to allow children to remain safely in their own homes, by providing services and supervision for the family.
Families whose children have been declared dependents of the Juvenile Court may be eligible for Family Maintenance Services if the children can safely remain in the home of the parent(s), and if the problems which brought the family before the Juvenile Court can be corrected within the time allowed by law.
Families whose children are at risk of neglect or abuse, and who are willing to accept voluntary services from Child Welfare Services, may also be eligible for Voluntary Family Maintenance Services if the children can safely remain in the home while services are being provided. Voluntary services can be provided for up to six months, and may be extended under certain circumstances, if the family is willing to work on correcting the problems that brought the family to the attention of Child Welfare Services.
Voluntary Family Maintenance Services
Voluntary Family Maintenance can also be provided for time-limited services to children in their own homes. Families whose children are at-risk of neglect or abuse, and who state they are willing to accept voluntary services from CWS may be eligible for six months of Family Maintenance services if it is determined the children can remain safely in their home while these services are being provided. Services may be extended under certain circumstances if the family is willing to work on correcting the problems that brought the family to the attention of Child Welfare Services in the first place.
Family Reunification Services
Family Reunification Services provide time-limited services to families whose children cannot remain safely in the home and have been placed in foster care by the Juvenile Court. The goal of the Family Reunification Services is to help the family overcome safety issues so that children can be reunited with parents or guardians.
This program is designed to provide a permanent family for those children who, because of neglect or abuse, cannot safely remain at home or return to the home of the parent(s). Possible permanent plans include: adoption, guardianship, or long-term foster care. The goal of Permanency Planning is to insure that each child has the most stable home available in which to grow up.