Family Support Teams (FST)
Many of Connecticut’s children, who have suffered as victims of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect, develop serious emotional disturbances. FST was established to provide in home support to these children and families in order to:
Help stabilize child and family functioning to avoid removal of child from the home to out of home placements
Promote the conditions for positive growth and development
Facilitate healthy integration within the community
The key feature of Family Support Teams is to keep the child in the home of his or her foster or biological family. Each FST team is comprised of a clinical director, a child psychiatrist, an APRN, a licensed therapist, and a family services coordinator. Working comprehensively and holistically with families for an average of 9-12 months and remaining with the family until a six-month period of family and child stability has been maintained.
The FST supports the family twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week using a child-centered and family-focused approach the team provides education, training, therapy, and linkages to community services. FST will do whatever it takes to help each family achieve their individual treatment goals and maintain each child in their homes.
To be eligible for the Family Support Team services a child must:
Meet the criteria for serious emotional disturbance
Reside with a family (or if the child or youth is in out-of-home care, there is a plan to reside in a family, foster, or adoptive home within one month of referral)
Require intensive services and supports to remain in a community setting
Be at imminent risk of placement in out-of-home care or be returning from out of home care
Be involved with the Department of Children and Families
Treatment Foster Care (TFC)
At any give time, more than 2000 children in the state of Connecticut are awaiting placement in a loving home.
The TFC program serves children between the ages of 6-17 years of age needing foster care placement because their biological families are unable to care for them. These children have a history of abuse, neglect, and trauma. TFC provides therapy, psychiatric treatment, and supportive programming to keep these children living in a family setting.
Foster families have access to agency support 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
IICAPS
IICAPS is a home--Based service designed by the Yale University Child Study Center to service the needs of children who have psychiatric disorders and who live in a family that requires services to meet the child's needs.
Intensive In-Home Child and Adolescent Home Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services