House Community Budget Issue Requests - Tracking Id #1556 Kinship Care Program
Requester:	Barbara Weinstein, Ed. D.		Organization:		Family Central, Inc.
Project Title:	Kinship Care Program		Date Submitted:		01/26/2000 2:12:08 PM
District Member:	Ron Greenstein		Service Area:		County
Counties Affected:	Broward
Recipient:	Family Central, Inc.		Contact:		Howard Bakalar
	840 SW 81st Avenue		Contact Phone:		(954) 724-3895
	North Lauderdale 33068
Project Description:
The Kinship Care Program wil provide in-home counseling and support services to relative caregivers and family members caring for their kin's children, ages birth to eighteen, who have been removed from their biological parents care for abuse and/or neglect. It is estimated that, with the State of Florida's funding, fifteen families with approximately sixty-five children will benefit from Family Central's Kinship Care Program. Program services will focus on the process of developing permanency in the lives of the children. This program is designed to maintain children safely in the home, to prevent placement in the foster care system and/or to decrease the number of children languishing in foster care. Major program goals are to preserve and strengthen connections with family, to establish permanency options, and to promote the health and well-being of the children.
Services Provided/Benefit to State:
Services may include, but not limited to: intensive on-site crisis intervention, individual and family counseling, family support plan development, staffings with Team and other providers as necessary, advocacy/ support for the family at court hearings if applicable, parenting skills, training in daily living skills, nutrition, budgeting,caregiver/child interactive activities, linkages to community resources, advocacy for clients' needs, and monitoring to ensure receipt of services. Permanency affords the stability and security that children must have for building competency and self-reliance. Whenever possible, the family should provide cultural and spiritual needs from infancy to adulthood. Family relationships best meet a child's need for permanency and the family is the primary means for preparing the children for adulthood. By offering in-home supportive services to relative caregivers, the benefit to the state would be significant. The opportunity for these children to remain out of the foster care system and to achieve a sense of stability and permanency in their lives would become evident in the reduction of behavior problems in school settings and juvenile delinquency. All children want to feel safe, loved and that they "belong". Being placed in the stable care of family rather than the somewhat unstable foster care arena can increase the long term prognosis for the child's success in life. Funding for the valuable in-home services Family Central's Kinship Care program provides allows for a supportive network for the caregivers to assist them in maintaing the children in their home and in meeting their basic needs. Economically, funding for the relative caregiver programs like Family Central's Kinship Care program have proven more cost efficient than placing children in foster care. According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, family preservation and support costs appoximately $2,500 per child per year. Foster care costs $5,293 per child per year. Family Central's Kinship Care program will cost $1,457 per child.
Measurable Outcome Anticipated:
Outcome #1: One year after placement with relative caregivers, 95% of children placed will not have entered the foster care system. Option #2: 85% of families will demonstrate an increase in the quality of caregiver-child interaction as measured by the Child Well-Being Scales, or other appropriate measurement instrument. Outcome #3: 75% of children will not enter or re-enter the Juvenile system while receiving Family Central Kinship Care services. Outcome #4: 90% of families who complete program services will report having overall satisfaction with program services as measured by the agency's Client Satisfaction Survey Instrument.
Amount requested from the State for this project this year:				$94,728
Total cost of the project:		$193,437

Request has been made to fund:			Operations
Is there Local Government or Private match for this request?						Yes
	Cash Amount:	$98,709
Was this project previously funded by the State?						Yes
	Fiscal Year:	1999		Amount:		$94,728
Is future-year funding likely to be requested?						Yes
	Amount:	$94,728
	Purpose for future year funding:				Recurring Operations
	Will this be an annual request?					Yes
Was this project included in an Agency's Budget Request?						No
Was this project included in the Governor's Recommended Budget?						No
Is there a documented need for this project?						No
Was this project request heard before a publicly noticed meeting of a body of elected officials (municipal, county, or state)?						No