Working With The Family
I will hope continually, and will praise God more and more. Psalm 71:14
Gateway Woods Home-Based Services is a distinctively Christian program that revolves around one concept: the family. Families are the cornerstone of our society and the primary source of a child's nurturing, identity and stability. Our concern for the family has prompted us to provide Home-Based Services. This program is designed to work intensively with families before major problems occur, while a child is in placement, and as a continuing support after a child returns home. Rather than only treating the symptoms, we seek to help the family deal with the real issues such as harmful attitudes, beliefs, priorities and habits. Gateway Woods Home-Based Services offers 24-hour consultation and crisis intervention. We'll be there when needs arise.
Our Goals
- Basic assessment - guiding parents to see the strengths and weaknesses not only in their children, but in their individual lives as well.
- Set & achieve goals - assisting the family in setting achievable goals, prioritizing issues and encouraging application to their situation.
- Identify roles & authority - setting up family rules and consequences; developing positive and consistent standards and discipline.
- Adult role models - guiding married and single parents to model positive interaction, responsible behavior, and wise work habits, use of finances, and use of time.
- Nurturing relationships - solid parenting founded on biblical principles and based in supportive marriages.
- Positive family communication - positive parent-child communication so that children can feel encouraged and comfortable seeking advice and counsel from their parents.
- Identify spiritual needs - encouraging faith and victorious living with God's help.
- Provide availability - continuing contact with clients in order for them to proceed with confidence.
Types of Care
Preventative Care
All families go through difficult times. However, certain serious situations require help from experienced family workers. In the Preventive Care phase, we work with a family before a child is removed from his/her home as a way of strengthening the family and preventing the child's removal. We embrace the opportunity to work with families who desire to remain intact and to provide solutions and support that help them accomplish this goal.
Concurrent Care
When a child has been removed from the home and placed in residential or foster care, families often continue to experience great difficulty. Working in cooperation with the residential treatment team or foster care staff and parents, we help to prepare the family for the child's return by addressing issues and concerns in the home. Home-Based Services works both at the child's home and at the residential facility or foster home to ensure continuity. A treatment plan is developed for both children and parents to prepare for the child's transition back into the home, school, and community.
Aftercare
In the time surrounding a child's discharge, the Home-Based worker meets initially with the treatment team, and then with the family in their home throughout the time before and after the family is reunited. The focus is on providing continuity of care, solidifying gains, preventing a return to out-of-home placement, and preventing conflict and contact with law enforcement.
