Family Empowerment
The Family Empowerment program of Catholic Charities of Tompkins/Tioga is a collaborative effort to assist parents, families, and individuals who have children with special needs in child protective services and mental health services. Family Empowerment is composed of two programs, Community Connections and Parent Partnership.
Community Connections
Community Connections is a mentoring program that advocates for families / individuals to create roadmaps as they travel through Child Protective Services and other child welfare systems.
We are here to help if you have been recently hot-lined to Child Protection Services and you would like to know your choices. It is a program of parents helping parents find their way through this crisis. It is a voluntary, strengths-based program providing advocacy and monitoring of service delivery for families and/or individuals involved specifically with Child Protective Services and other child welfare Services.
What We Do:
- Help you understand what is happening.
- Guide you through the Child Protective Services process.
- Be sure you know your rights and your responsibilites.
- Assist you in connecting with community resources.
- Respect your family's goals.
What We Believe:
- All families have strengths.
- Parenting is challenging.
- All of us need help from time to time.
- Families are empowered by knowing the outcomes of their choices.
- We respect all who are concerned with the well-being of families and children within our community.
Our trained parent mentors are available to meet with you. We will work with you to set up a convenient time to meet. If you would like to contact us about this program, call (607) 272 - 5062 Ext. 28 and ask for Community Connections. If the center is closed, you can leave a voice mail message and we will call you back.
Parent Partnership
The goal of Parent Partnership is to increase community support for families facing the challenges of developing treatment plans for their children. It is a case management program for families who have children with emotional and behavioral challenges and are at risk for out-of-home placement.
It uses a strengths-based approach to partner parents and families as they participate in the Single Point of Accountability (SPOA) process to create a plan to keep children at home, or when placement has to occur, to place children in the least restrictive environment. The SPOA team works in partnership with families to assess a youth's strengths and needs and provide support by sharing responsibility, information, resources and expertise among those working with families.
- With your permission, a Parent Partner will contact you to discuss your thoughts about your child's situation.
- A Parent Partner will review the decision-making process with you and support your active role.
- If you wish, we will help you to develop questions and to determine the most effective way to get answers.
- A Parent Partner will stay in touch with you throughout the decision making process.
This is a service of Catholic Charities of the Southern Tier in collaboration with Tompkins County Youth Bureau, Tompkins County Department of Social Services and Tompkins County Mental Health.
We will be glad to explain our services to you. You decide if you want to meet with a parent mentor. If you have any questions about either program, don't hesitate to contact us.