ANNUAL REPORT
2004-2005
 
ADOPT NEW MEXICO'S CHILDREN
La Familia, Inc. has a contract with the State of New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department to provide services for families adopting children with special needs. Through the Adopt NM Special Needs Adoption Program, families and children received the following services: training’s, home studies, pre-placement services, post-placement service, respite, post decree services, support groups and assistance in recruitment activities. Services were provided for families throughout the entire state. During the July 1, 2004 –June 30, 2005 fiscal year, the Adopt New Mexico Children program completed its fifth year of a contract with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families.

During the time period
covered in this annual report, La Familia received 87 referrals for home studies.  Forty two families received pre-placement services,47 families received post-placement services, and 25 families received post-decree services. Services were provided for families residing in Bernalillo, Cibola, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Santa Fe and San Miguel counties.

La Familia in a collaborative effort with CYFD and several other TFC agencies met for a little over two years to develop protocols to assist in transitioning children in treatment foster care to adoption. This task force met to identify best practices for placing children from treatment foster care into adoption. The goal was to decrease the number of disruptions for this population. As a result of
this effort, a number of efforts occurred including a written protocol, a training for CYFD staff and TFC providers as well as a training for treatment foster parents, In addition, La Familia also developed, wrote the script and coordinated the staff for the production of a video “Treatment Foster Care – What You Should Know” in coordination with Fuzion Video Production and ARCA. This is a training video developed to prepare adoptive families interested in adopting children who are placed in treatment foster care. 150 videos were purchased and distributed state wide to Adoption Placement staff and Treatment Foster Care agencies.

—Lisa Graham
Director, Adopt
New Mexico’s Children

 

“UNLESS THE INVESTMENT IN CHILDREN IS MADE, ALL OF HUMANITY’S MOST FUNDAMENTAL LONG-TERM PROBLEMS WILL REMAIN FUNDAMENTAL LONG-TERM PROBLEMS.”

          —UNICEF
          “The State of the
          World’s Children”
          (1995)
   
TREATMENT FOSTER CARE
Over the past year the La Familia Treatment Foster Care Program has morphed into Family Community Services embracing Family Stabilization Services, transitional living services and case management services as part of the continuum of care.

Currently La Familia has 60 licensed treatment foster parents in the Albuquerque area. Over half of these families have five plus years of experience providing treatment foster care services for special needs children.
Families receive monthly training in order to support them in the implementation of the therapeutic milieu, and enhance their ability to participate as a professional parent within the multi-disciplinary team. La Familia placed 69 children and discharged 64 children during the calendar year with 83% of the children discharging to a lower level of care such as return home, adoption, or relative placement. La Familia assists children transitioning into adoption including supporting treatment parents who choose to adopt
children placed in their home. La Familia also assists families with reunification whenever possible. La Familia assisted with over 20 adoptions; 9 of which were treatment foster family conversions. La Familia helped over 40 children return to their biological families including parents and extended family members.

La Familia is utilizing the TFC model to train and support biological families in managing their children

(Continued on page 6)

View 2002 Annual Report

View 2003 Annual Report
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