Family-Focused Practice in Out-Of-Home Care: A Handbook and Resource Directory Book

Recognizing the importance of maintaining and supporting the parent-child connection

Family-Focused Practice in Out-of-Home Care helps administrators and managers in out-of-home care agencies bring a family focus to their policy, administrative, and program structures. It outlines the values and principles of family focused practice and describes organizational strategies for bringing families into the agency. Further, it describes the process of agency change from a traditional out-of-home care agency to one that develops and improves relationships with families of children in care.

Designed to provide practical "hands-on" support, Family-Focused Practice in Out-of-Home Care offers agency managers a conceptual framework of family-focused practice and suggestions for addressing the many challenges agencies face when making an organizational change, including:
-- changing the agency's culture to value families
-- knowing the community's ability to meet the needs of families
-- moving boards and reeducating staff
-- finding creative funding resources
-- becoming more responsive to cultural differences

The resource guide section of the handbook provides a descriptive list agencies that have already developed creative strategies and approaches to working with families, along with an extensive bibliography of materials related to family-focused practice in out-of-home care.