THE CHILDREN'S HOME INC

Foster care support services:children's home network (chn) recruits and licenses quality foster homes in hillsborough and osceola counties to serve children that have been removed from their families due to abuse or neglect. Chn's capacity continues to grow, and we currently support over 130 foster homes and serve an average of 160 foster children, ages 0-17, on any given day. We believe that children in foster care are best served in a stable, family-like setting and with their siblings whenever possible. Chn foster families provide safety and excellent care where children heal from their trauma.(continued on schedule o)our foster families are skilled parents and strong advocates for their foster children, functioning as a member of the child's case management team. Foster families co-parent with the child's birth family to maintain and strengthen the parent/child bond and to assist with a timely and safe reunification for the family. The chn fostering family's team offers intense support for our foster families including but not limited to professional child welfare and licensing staff, and when necessary, in-home clinical services with a licensed mental health clinician or a master's level clinician. Our clinical team includes a child and adolescent psychiatrist and intense in-home therapy to include the child, foster family and when appropriate the birth family. Fostering families is the only foster care program in hillsborough county that offers four levels of care to serve the unique needs of children in care: traditional, medical, supported, and specialized therapeutic foster care. Chn is well regarded locally and statewide for our commitment to excellent care for every child in our program and our advocacy and services ensure placement stability for our children and a high level of foster parent retention and satisfaction. Foster care support services were provided to 410 individuals during the year ending june 30, 2024. Level 1 licensing services:chn represents as a first responder to the family for the purpose of licensing relatives and non-relatives that are parenting children placed in their care by child protective services. Level 1 licensure is intense and time sensitive and requires chn staff to engage quickly, identifying the family's urgent and anticipated health and safety needs so they can obtain licensure and the ongoing support it provides while the child is in the home through permanency, to include guardianship assistance. Chn's level 1 teams operate in hillsborough, orange, seminole and osceola counties and their goal is to complete an assessment of the home so that an initial level 1 license will be issued within 60 days of initial referral. Chn's level 1 teams assist families by providing linkage to pre-service training, goods, and services such as fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, beds, and minor home repairs so that the children are safe and well cared for and the home meets licensing standards. Once the home is licensed for level 1, chn continues to provide in-home support to ensure the child and family remains stable and needs are met in a safe environment. The level 1 team completes annual relicensing activities with the family and participates in permanency planning to include reunification support, adoption by the caregiver or permanent guardianship and linkage to the guardianship assistance program (gap). Chn's gap specialist works collaboratively with the legal guardian to ensure access to the guardianship assistance programs to support permanency. This program served just over 230.