Specialized Family Services
At Seasons, we know that many of the families we work with are facing complex needs and challenges and likely juggling many services at once. These services are for children who have experienced trauma and their parents/caregivers who are on the path to recovery from substance use. Services include therapy, care coordination, and occasional opportunities for respite care (childcare).
Our specialized family services deliver healing and support for children and their families that have experienced trauma with the goal of preventing out-of-home placements, as well as improving the well-being of children who are currently in foster care or have been adopted. Through these services, families can gain parenting skills, healthy parent-child interaction, positive decision-making skills, coping skills, and general life balance. Children and their families receive trauma-informed, evidence-based therapies and are assigned a compassionate care coordinator who assists the family in navigating barriers to service involvement.
EVIDENCE-BASED THERAPIES & PRACTICESChildren and their families are provided a safe, therapeutic space to process their thoughts, feelings and behaviors while gaining skills for healthy coping through therapy. Backed by scientific evidence and research proving effectiveness, the following evidence-based modalities are utilized by our therapists:
- Parent-Child Interactive Therapy (PCIT)
- Parents and Children Together (PACT)
- Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- W.I.S.E. Up!
The evidence-based practice utilized depends on the county in which the child and family live, the credentials and training of the therapist, and recommendations by the Clinical Care Team.
Our Specialized Trauma-Services Care Coordinators are the child and their family’s first point of contact. Care Coordinators complete initial screenings with the family to decide how to best meet the family’s unique needs and develop a plan for treatment. For select counties the care coordinators can provide the family with evidence-based, in-home services including:
- Parents and Children Together (PACT)
- Seeking Safety
- Parenting Wisely - Young Children
- Parenting Wisely - Teens
Care coordinators are available to support involved families during their time in services, help arrange therapy appointments, connect families with resources, and help them through any issues that might come up. They also occasionally plan fun family or child-only activities for involved families or children!
Our care coordinators assess the family for child well-being, trauma, family functioning and stability, and parental substance use. Once the results of these screenings and assessments are complete, the care coordinator will present the case to the Clinical Care Team, a team of compassionate professionals dedicated to determining that services are tailored appropriately to the family and keep their best interest in mind. The Clinical Care Team then makes recommendations for the best route of services that are offered to the family.
SCREENINGS AND ASSESSMENTSChildren and families receive a wide-range of assessments as they enter and exit Specialized Trauma Services including:
- Infant-Toddler Sensory Profile (ITSP)
- Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)
- Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF)
- Trauma Symptoms Checklist (TSCYC & TSC-40)
- Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2)
- Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Short Form
- Addiction Severity Index Self-Report Form (ASI)
The Clinical Care Team consists of a Specialized Trauma Services Therapy Specialist, a Trauma-Informed Care Coordinators and Family Case Coordinators (view our Provider list below). Meeting on a weekly basis, this team of highly-qualified and experienced professionals reviews family screenings and assessments, creates treatment plans tailored to family needs, and provides support and guidance to those providing direct service within this program. This team ensures services are being provided with fidelity and with the families' best interests in mind.
Who are these services for?
These services are for children who have experienced trauma who have parents/caregivers that are on the path to recovery. The four key eligibility requirements include:
- Residence in Seasons’ service area (see Where are these services located? for more on our service area)
- Child welfare involvement or at risk for involvement in the child welfare system
What does it mean to be “at risk for involvement”?Child has been exposed to substance use, domestic violence, family living in poverty, children with incarcerated parent(s), children being raised by someone other than parents, etc.
- Child has been exposed to trauma
What is considered trauma?Childhood trauma can include physical, mental, emotional, or sexual abuse, the death of a loved one, parent divorce, physical injury (such as an accident), serious or chronic illness, war, natural disasters, terrorism, forced displacement (having refugee status), moving to a new location, parental abandonment, removal from family (due to child welfare involvement; foster care or kinship placement), witnessing domestic abuse, being exposed to substance use, and more.
- Current or past substance use by parent/caregiver
Who is considered a caregiver?Anyone who has cared for the child long-term.
Where are these services located?
Services, including in-home services, are provided in Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Sioux, and Woodbury counties (highlighted in blue).
* denotes counties with an office location
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