What are family-based alternatives?

• Support for a child to live with their birth family
• Support for a child placed in residential care to return home
• Support for another family to care for a child, either full or part time

What is a Support Family?
A Support Family is an alternate family who has been recruited, carefully selected, fully prepared, and paid to provide care for a child with a disability on a long-term basis, either full time or in a shared parenting arrangement. Support Families are monitored by a community agency that is responsible for assuring the child's well-being through supervision and support. More Information

What is shared parenting?
Shared parenting is a term used to describe an arrangement where an alternate family is recruited and trained to provide a home part-time to help a birth family in caring for their child with disabilities. The amount of time and conditions under which care is shared between two families can vary with families' circumstances and preferences. The birth family and the alternate family negotiate an agreement outlining the arrangements and describing their mutual decisions about how to share care. More Information

What is permanency planning?
Permanency planning is a process that explores what it would take to create and sustain family life for a child with a disability on a long-term basis. According to Texas legislation, the goal of permanency planning is facilitating “a permanent living arrangement with the primary feature of an enduring and nurturing parental relationship.” More information

What is the Family-Based Alternatives Project?
The Project, funded through a contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, aims to create family-based alternatives for children with developmental disabilities who currently reside in residential care facilities in central Texas. More information