We help struggling parents working with child welfare agencies and IDCFS to tap their parenting strengths and to discover new ways to match their skills with the behavioral needs of their child.  Many families have used this service to work toward healthier, long-term, parent-child relationships. 

Used by the child welfare agencies of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services toward reasonable efforts for family preservation and reunification, this service engages parents who are working toward the return of their children from the care of the Department of Children & Family Services.  It is a resource for families and case managers to provide every reasonable possibility of reunification and/or a healthier long-term relationship, as when parents and child(ren)/youth are being reunified.

Program Goals:

• To develop a specific list of parenting strengths and areas for growth based on observations of the parent(s) & child(ren)/youth;
• To increase the parents' parenting strengths;
• To decrease the areas for growth utilizing the parents' strengths and core parenting techniques; and
• To support the permanency goals of the case.

Program Framework:

• House Calls Counseling therapists observe parent(s) and child(ren)/youth interactions.  We provide positive feedback on successful parenting, and intervene, when necessary, to maintain physical and emotional safety of the child(ren)/youth.
• Then, at the beginning of each session, we meet with the parent alone and reflect back to him/her on our observations of the last session.  We make recommendations for changes in parenting interactions.  We may role-play the recommendations with the parent before bringing in the child(ren)/youth. 
• Further, we help parents to explore applicable family-of-origin and/or trauma issues that may be blocks to their current parenting abilities, as necessary and applicable.
• Next, the parent and child(ren)/youth are brought together, and the parent then has a chance to utilize the recommendations throughout the rest of the session. 

Program Specifics:

Setting: in the biological family home, during visitations or in the office.  We usually recommend starting with the visitation location, so as not to interrupt the current flow of family gatherings.  From there, once all involved feel it's time to make a change, the obvious location to do this type of work is in the home of the biological parent, so that the parent-child(ren)/youth relationship can develop in the setting where it will ultimately be utilized, especially if the DCFS Permanency Goal is Return Home.

Frequency & Duration: one session per week, for an hour and half each, has worked most effectively so that the House Calls Counseling therapist will have thirty to forty-five minutes to meet with the parent alone at the beginning of a session. 

Reporting: includes a treatment plan with goals after three sessions followed by quarterly reports.  Length of treatment depends on the parents' readiness for such intervention and their ability to act on the recommendations.  In the past, we've made clear recommendations to the agency by the end of twelve sessions.  If we feel the parent(s) is making definitive progress but needs further assistance, we'll make specific recommendations for additional sessions.  On the other hand, if the parent(s) is not making progress, and we feel that s/he does not have the ability to make progress, we will recommend against further treatment and provide a detailed report to the agency with review by the court firmly in mind.