FAMILY FRIENDLINESS OF COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL-DISORDERS AND THEIR FAMILIES - AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

In systems of care, the term family friendly is used to describe servi ces that are aligned with the needs of the families and delivered in a manner that shows professionals value and respect Family involvement, empowerment, and cultural differences. The authors devised a 42-item structured observation instrument to rate the Family friendliness of o ne component of the systems of care in Virginia for children with emot ional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and their families. The instrumen t covers typical aspects of the meeting process, such as meeting manag ement, case presentation, and formulation of service plans. It also al lows for the collection of data on relevant characteristics of the mee ting participants as well as demographic information on the children a nd their families. This instrument was used to rate the family friendl iness of Family Assessment and Planning Team (FAPT) meetings, the purp ose of which is to develop community-based service plans for children with EBD who are referred to the team. These teams meet in local commu nities and typically consist of representatives from the local juvenil e court, education, health, mental health, and social service agencies . The authors observed 79 case presentations at 31 FAPT meetings in 7 localities. Although there were variations within, between, and among localities, the overall rating of family friendliness across all case presentations was good (63%). Improvements in the FAPT process are nee ded to assure increased family friendliness in the planning of service s for children with EBD and their families.