Family Preservation Training Institute
During the State Fiscal Year 2008, the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) local offices investigated or assessed more than 60,000 referrals. Of these 49,494 were referrals that were assigned a child protective service response (involving an allegation of abuse or neglect), while 11, 705 were assigned for a child welfare assessment (report does not rise to level of abuse or neglect). When families come to the attention of DYFS, one of the services they may be offered is Family Preservation Services (FPS).
The 1993 Family Preservation and Family Support Program (authorized as part of the 1993 Omnibus Reconciliation Act) defines Family Preservation Services (FPS) as that which are designed to help families alleviate crises that might lead to out of home placement of children; maintain the safety of children in their own homes; support families preparing to reunify or adopt; and assist families in obtaining services and other supports necessary to address their multiple needs in a culturally sensitive manner. The legislation adds that if a child cannot be protected from harm without placement or the family does not have adequate strengths on which to build, family preservation services are not appropriate. In New Jersey, FPS is a DYFS contracted service and DYFS provides the funding to support IFF's training of the FPS workforce.
New Jersey's Family Preservation program is a short-term, family based service designed to assist families in crisis by improving parenting and family functioning to maintain children with their families, or to reunify them. This service was build on the conviction that many children can be safely protected and treated within their own homes when parents are provided with the services and supports and empowered to change their lives. There are two components of the training: New Worker Training and ongoing workshops for professional development of the FPS workforce.
Programs provided by the Family Preservation Training Institute are:
- Family Preservation New Worker Training Series
Family Preservation New Worker Training introduces FPS workers to a variety of simulated training experiences related to child protection issues and the competencies needed to achieve the goal of safely maintaining children with their families. Training sessions are offered one day a week for several weeks, allowing workers the opportunity to apply what they learned in their work environments.
- Family Preservation Professional Development Training
The Family Preservation Professional Development training offers competency-based workshops to further develop FPS workers in their ability to provide high quality evidenced-based services to families. The workshops have a cognitive/behavioral approach and focus on providing background knowledge of theory and concepts, demonstration of skills, participant involvement via exercises and discussion.