A Program Offered by DCS to Help Parents Thrive

ACT CFS Family Connections (FC) program helps families in the following areas so that you can reach your goals with DCS:

• Social Support - Building and strengthening positive relationships so you have someone to call when you need someone to talk to or help meeting your child’s needs
• Family Functioning – Coaching to improve communication, clarify values, and learn coping skills so that you can solve life’s problems without getting overwhelmed
• Family Resources - Assistance finding and making good use of resources to meet your children’s basic needs for food, clothing, supervision, housing, and health care
• Child Well Being – Teaching new ways to build your child’s social and emotional competence and help them grow and flourish
• Parenting Attitudes and Behaviors- Understanding your child’s development and having a positive, nurturing parenting relationship with them
• Managing Parenting Stress- Helping you manage and cope with your stress connected to parenting

Your Family Connections Consultant (FCC) will help you meet your goals by:

• Sharing viewpoints, ideas and reactions
• Individualized sessions to best meet each family member’s needs based on their unique situations
• Teaching new ways to problem-solve
• Using a genuine and caring, helping relationship
• Partnering with your family to ensure you receive the right services and supports at the right time
• Teaching ways to better handle feelings, stress and anger
• Empowering you during this time of change

ACT CFS Family Connections Program connects you to emergency and other services so you can meet your family’s day-to-day needs, which can include:

• Utility, rent, or child care assistance
• Emergency food or clothing
• Household furniture and supplies
• Connection to mental or behavioral health and substance use services and supports

Family Connections is a short-term service that helps you achieve your long-term goals related to the reason the Department of Child Safety is involved with your family.

Family Connections works directly with your family, focusing on your strengths, and supporting you to improve your relationship with your child and strengthen your family.

Your willingness to work closely with your FCC and your DCS Specialist will help you get the most out of this service, and will ultimately help guide your family towards becoming a stronger unit.

If your family and the DCS Specialist have made the decision that Family Connections could benefit your family, the DCS Specialist will submit a request for services.

• A Family Connections Consultant (FCC) will contact you within 24 hours of receiving that request, get to know you and your family, and better understand your needs.
• The FCC will meet with you to complete an assessment, which will include answering a series of questions.
• The FCC will work with you and your family on creating a plan to help determine what outcomes, interventions and services will best meet your family’s needs.
• Depending on the needs of your family, the FCC will either meet with you once or twice a week, for one hour each, over 150 days.
• If needed, services can continue 90 days at a time.