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Well-established research and child development experts
agree that all children, including
those with developmental disabilities, develop best
in a safe and nurturing family home with parents who
have the ability and support to care for them. Children
with developmental disabilities who live in institutions
and non-family residential facilities have limited opportunities
for this condition of optimal development.
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An irreducible need of
childhood:
"A safe, secure environment that includes
one stable, predictable, comforting, and protective
relationship with an adult who has made a long
term personal commitment to the child's daily
welfare and who has the means, time, and personal
qualities needed to carry it out."
Dr. Stanley Greenspan
Leading researcher and child psychiatrist
(The Growth of the Mind, 1997)
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Children
Living in Residential Facilities in Texas
There are 1500 children
and young adults with developmental disabilities under
the age of 22 who live in residential facilities in
Texas. They vary widely in age and disability and
each has different needs that range in intensity and
type.
Most children come into residential
care when loving and competent birth families do not
have the kind of family circumstances or help that
will enable them to raise their children and they
voluntarily seek help from service agencies. A smaller
number of children come from family situations where
problems have led to intervention by the child protective
services system and a court appointed guardian is
involved in planning in the parents’ stead.
The Family-Based
Alternatives Project targets the approximately
300 children with developmental disabilities who live
in facilities in twelve central Texas counties.
Across the
state...
The type of facilities where children with
disabilities are living:
The ages of children with disabilities
living in facilities:
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Of the 1500 children with developmental
disabilities living in Texas facilities, half
are under the age of 18.
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In general, there are more older
children and young adults than young children
living in facilities.
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In general, the younger children
tend to have very complex needs.
The types of developmental disabilities
of children living in facilities:
Family-Based
Alternatives to Residential Facility Care
Family-based alternatives to facility
care are needed to provide family life for children
with developmental disabilities. Family-based
alternatives
are living arrangements which have
as their primary feature a nurturing, enduring, parental
relationship. Family-based alternatives to facility
care requires two kinds of service arrangements:
What are family-based
alternatives?
- Sufficient support for birth families
to enable them to care for their children
at home, or
- Alternate families who can care
for children who are unable to live with their
birth families.
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The first
priority for any child is to
find adequate supports to enable the child to remain
home or to return home from a residential placement.
If living with the birth family is not possible, the
second priority
is to find another family arrangement to care for
the child. The key
feature of all successful family-based
alternatives is matching the needs of a child with
the capacity of a family.
The challenge
is finding the right 3-way match between ...
- the unique needs of a particular child
and
- the unique capacities and circumstances
of a particular family and
- the unique arrangement of supports to
enable a particular family and child to thrive.
For a child with developmental disabilities, a family
must be prepared to provide for his or her unique needs.
To be prepared a family must have access to adequate
training, advice, and assistance from people who have
particular expertise related to the child's needs.
The Support Family Option
While the number and range of options to help birth
families is growing, it is not yet adequate to assist
all families who need it. When a birth family finds
that they are unable to care for their child, whether
due to circumstances or inadequate support, an alternative
can be another family with different circumstances or
supports who can provide a home for a child.
One option for family life is provided by the Support
Family model, an arrangement in which a child lives
with another family, called a Support Family, in a long-term
relationship full or part time, yet continues to be
involved with his or her birth family. The Support Family
model enables a child to enjoy the benefits of family
life when their birth family is unable to provide it.
The challenge is to find and support the right fit between
the unique capacities and needs of children and families
to ensure sustainable, long-term family life for children
with disabilities.
For more information see...
By creating a
system of family-based laternatives to residential facility
care, children with disabilities will be able to grow
up in nurturing, enduring families. |
