Child Welfare Services
Child Welfare Services, also known as the Family Intervention Team (F.I.T ) team, offers intensive family assessment and treatment services to children and their families who are actively involved with the Thunder Bay Children's Aid Society.
Who Can Use This Service?
Parents and their children are eligible to receive this service if,
- They are actively involved with the Children's Aid Society (CAS)
- Significant parenting and child protection issues have been identified
- There is open communication between the parent, the Children's Aid Society and Children's Centre Thunder Bay regarding concerns and progress
- The parent is willing to participate in the assessment and treatment process
Although not ideal, there may be Child Welfare Court involvement during the service process.
What Is Offered?
- Clear goals for treatment, determined in consultation with both the family and CAS
- Initial assessment of parent and child relationship and functioning
- Intensive dyadic work with parent and child to improve parent responsiveness to the child's needs
- Combination of office based and home based services
- Collaboration with other service providers
- Regularly scheduled progress update meetings including the family, CAS and other relevant service providers
How Can This Service Help?
- The parent will receive feedback regarding their strengths as a parent and areas requiring further development
- The therapist and parent will have opportunities to review recordings of their interactions with their child and identify specific behaviours which need to be modified
- The therapist will provide coaching and direction
- The client and CAS can expect focussed, intensive intervention and frequent progress reports
How Can You Find Out More Or Access This Service?
Referrals to this program are only accepted from CAS. Potential referrals are screened through a regular consultation process at CAS. Prior to accepting a referral, the parent must sign a consent form allowing ongoing case planning and open communication with CAS .
Additional information may be obtained by contacting the Children's Centre Thunder Bay at 343-5000 and asking to speak to the Program Manager.
