Program Description

Integrated Placement and Treatment Program

Tapestry Family Services has developed a unique approach to caring for, supporting and treating emotionally disturbed foster children within the local community. The design of Tapestry's model Integrated Placement and Treatment Program involves the integration of three distinct program components:

• A Treatment Foster Care Program through which children who are unable to function in their own homes or in regular foster care are cared for and nurtured by trained and supported foster families.
• An Intensive Treatment Foster Care Program designed to provide care and nurturing for children whose care needs exceed the capacity of the Treatment Foster Care program.
• A Comprehensive Mental Health Treatment Program for emotionally disturbed children and their families, which includes a Therapeutic After-School and Summer Activities Program.

Tapestry Family Services operates and manages these three programs as a comprehensive system of community-based treatment and care for the target population. The programs serve Mendocino County children between the ages of six and eighteen. Tapestry Family Services currently has the capacity to provide services to approximately fifteen children and their families. Over the next two years, it is expected that Tapestry's capacity to provide services will slowly expand to approximately twenty-four children.

The goal of Tapestry's Integrated Placement and Treatment Program is to help children who have been identified as being emotionally disturbed and who cannot live with their birth families learn to manage their behaviors and to heal from the trauma and abuse they have suffered, so that they can successfully live in a family-home setting in their own community (as opposed to a group home or institution away from their community). The majority of the children served through the program have been removed from their birth families due to child abuse and/or neglect. Most have been bounced from foster home to foster home because they have been unable to succeed with the level of care that has been available. Some have spent some months or years in group homes and psychiatric institutions.

Children are placed in Tapestry Family Services Integrated Placement and Treatment Program by the Mendocino County Department of Social S ervices, County Mental Health Services, County Probation, and, for the Intensive Treatment Foster Care Program, by the Mendocino County System of Care Interagency Case Management Team (SOC IACMT). Children are referred to the SOC IACMT by Mendocino County's Child Welfare Services, Mendocino County Mental Health Services, Mendocino County Probation, Mendocino County Office of Education's Special Education Local Planning Agency (SELPA) and by the local schools. The SOC IACMT has responsibility for assessing the child's needs and the level and type of services that will best meet his/her needs.

When a child is referred to Tapestry for placement and services, the child is assessed, matched and placed with a specially trained Tapestry foster family within the local community. Tapestry's Treatment Team Coordinator works with the child's individual treatment team, the child's family and foster family, and other providers of service involved with the child to develop an Individual Needs and Services Plan for that child. The Needs and Services Plan addresses the child's strengths and needs in the areas of health (including physical, metal and emotional health); behavior; relationships, support and nurturing; education; interests and community involvement. Tapestry's approach is intended to be inclusive and comprehensive: Child Teams include all of the people who are working with a particular child, including the foster parents, (and birth parents when appropriate), teachers, therapists, activity leaders, "coaches" (in-home support counselors), social workers, psychologists, mental health consultants, health care providers (if available), probation offices (if applicable), and other community members who are closely involved in the child's life, as appropriate. The core of each child's team meets monthly to review the child's goals and progress, and to coordinate their efforts on behalf of the child.

As a licensed Foster Family Agency (FFA), Tapestry Family Services provides two levels of foster care for children: Treatment Foster Care and Intensive Treatment Foster Care for children whose needs exceed the capacity of the Treatment Foster Care program (and who have been assessed as being at risk of placement in a Level 12 or higher Group Home or for whom return to the community from a group home is a goal). Foster families are recruited from the local community, certified, trained and provided with support by Tapestry Family Services to enable them to provide a high level of care for very hard-to-care-for children. Most families are certified to provide Intensive Treatment Foster Care as well as Treatment Foster Care so that children are able to move from one level of care to another without having to leave the family with whom they are living.

All of these children and their foster families benefit from the ongoing support of a Tapestry Family Services Social Worker and a 24-hour on-call support system. Each child placed in the Intensive Treatment Foster Care program is assigned a specially trained in-home Support Counselor who provides services as needed to provide additional support and care for the child and respite for the foster family.

Children who are placed with Tapestry attend various local schools (public and non-public) according to their specific educational needs. The children's teachers and educational resource specialists are included on the Child Team to ensure coordination between the school program and Tapestry's treatment and care plan.

For two hours each day after school, for five hours one weekend per month, and for four hours per day in the summer, the children participate in Tapestry's Therapeutic After-School and Summer Activities Program. This program blends the more traditional treatment modalities (individual, group and family therapy) with an intensive program of therapeutic recreational activities to create a comprehensive therapeutic and rehabilitative program based upon each individual child's needs, strengths and interests. The After-School and Summer Program incorporates art, music, drama, work with horses, non-competitive sports, climbing, backpacking, ropes challenge course work and other activities as therapeutic interventions. Through the coordination of the foster care and treatment components, Tapestry has created a comprehensive approach to helping children heal and grow by helping them to develop impulse control, emotional self-awareness, self-esteem, social skills and the capacity to participate in positive relationships with peers and caregivers. Over time, the successful acquisition of these skills allows the children to form healthy relationships, make appropriate academic progress, and move to less restrictive environments.

Throughout the time that children are in placement with Tapestry Family Services, their progress is monitored and their individual Needs and Services Plan adjusted through the monthly case conferences of their individual child teams. As indicated by progress, gradually, over time, children are transitioned to a less intensive level of services, with a goal of developing a permanent living arrangement through return to the birth family, adoption to long-term foster care in the local community. To support transition to a "less-restrictive" living situation, children may continue to be involved in the After-School and Summer Program, with a goal of transitioning to community-based activities appropriate to the children's interests.