Placement Services

Pinebrook has been providing placement (foster care) services for nearly 30 years. Recognized as one of the area's leading foster care agencies, a variety of programs are available; each are designed to meet the individual needs of the children requiring out-of-home placement. Pinebrook offers both short-term placement options such as shelter or respite foster care, and more long-term therapeutic ones such as specialized or intensive treatment foster care (see below for details). Several programs such as Medical Foster Care and CRR Host Homes are fully or partially Medicaid- (or managed care) funded. Referrals are accepted from the Offices of Children and Youth, Juvenile Probation or Mental Health/Mental Retardation.

All children are placed in a safe, structured family setting, where they will receive guidance and nurturance from at least one surrogate parent trained in the Child Welfare League of America PRIDE curriculum to work effectively with foster children. Each foster family has gone through an extensive home study process, including numerous background checks; they are required to attend 26 hours of pre-service training prior to accepting a child into their home. Annual, ongoing training is required for all foster parents.

Children in foster care receive a wide array of services through our agency. Each child is assigned a caseworker, who visits the foster home regularly (frequency is determined by the level of foster care needed). The caseworker makes certain that the client's needs are being optimally met. Each casework session includes private time with the child and his/her foster parent(s). A safety assessment is conducted at each casework session. Other routine services include:

• Developing rapport with the child's birth/legal family, including making arrangements for visitation (more extensive family work is available when needed);
  
• Regular contact with the referring county agency and other community providers;
  
• Ensuring that medical and dental needs are being met;
  
• Implementing behavior management and shaping, based on a reward system, if needed;
  
• For school-aged children, enrollment in appropriate public school setting and ongoing contact with school officials;
  
• Participation in age-appropriate enrichment activities (often sponsored by Pinebrook through additional funding);
  
• Available 24/7 crisis coverage;
  
• Referral to Pinebrook's behavioral health clinic for psychiatric, psychological and counseling services, where indicated; and
  
• Discharge planning, including step-down to less-restrictive placement setting (e.g., from intensive to specialized foster care) or referral to aftercare and other community-based services).

Similar to other programs and services, Pinebrook's placement services undergo ongoing evaluation as part of the agency's quality assurance/outcomes measurement practices (see Success section for details).

• Regular Foster Care
  Designed to provide dependent children who must be separated from their families due to their parents’ problems, with an environment and support services that lead to optimal growth and development. In addition, Regular Foster Care seeks to achieve family reunification or other permanency goals as quickly and successfully as possible.
  
  
• Specialized Foster Care
  Helps the child and the family work through problems that made palcement necessary, to allow for successful reunification and to help the child in placement attain the maximum level of growth and development of which he or she is capable. If a return home to the parents is not feasible for the child, Pinebrook will help determine and work out the best permanency plan possible for all involved.
  
  
• Intensive Treatment Foster Care
  Designed to help traumatized children within a family setting, while working with the children's legal family so that reunification or another appropriate permanency goal is achieved. The program helps seriously emotionally and/or behaviorally disturbed children and youth learn new behaviors, and attain sufficient self-control to enable them to live successfully in a less-restrictive setting. Intensive, goal-driven treatment is provided through highly skilled foster parents and staff.
  
  
• Diagnostic Foster Care
  This 30-day program is designed to provide the referring entity with a clear understanding of the cause or causes of the child’s and family’s problems, and to allow for the creation of a treatment program which will be successful in addressing the issues of the child and family. Diagnostic Foster Care is also intended to help in identifying the necessary services to allow the child to reach his or her full potential.
  
  The program is designed for children over 3 years old who need a thorough evaluation to determine the most appropriate living situation and treatment plan. Diagnostic Foster Care is also available on an outpatient basis and includes the following program components:
  
  
  • Psychological evaluation
    
  • Educational and vocational evaluation
    
  • Physical examination
    
  • Observation report on the child’s behavior
    
  • Other evaluations as indicated
    
  • Conference with referring agency staff to discuss findings and recommendations
    
  • Complete written report to county agency
    
  • Attendance at judicial review
  
  
• Independent Living/Life Skills
  Provides a stable, nurturing family living environment in which the adolescent client is assisted in achieving competency for independence. The client is taught independent living skills and provided with the needed structure and assistance to allow him or her to successfully live and work in the community, following discharge from out-of-home care.
  
  
• Medical Foster Care
  Seeks to help the seriously ill child in placement attain the maximum level of growth and development of which he or she is capable, and to provide permanency for those with complex medical conditions in a nurturing family environment. If the return home is not feasible for the chid, Pinebrook will help determine and work out the best permanency plan possible for all involved. Medical Foster Care is partially funded through the Medical Assistance Program.
  
  
• Mother-Baby Foster Care
  Assists the dependent mother to resolve the problems that made placement necessary, and to help her attain the maximum level of growth and development of which she is capable in all areas, including parenting. If a return home is not feasible for the dependent mother, Pinebrook will help determine and work out the best permanency plan possible for all involved.
  
  
• Shelter Foster Care
  Provides children and youth who are in need of immediate, short-term (up to 30 days) out-of-home services with placement in an approved foster home to ensure their safety.
  
  
• Respite Foster Care
  Designed as a short-term service for children in need of temporary foster care placement to allow a family in crisis to stabilize; as an interim, step-down placement from a more restrictive setting to return to the child’s legal family; or as a short-term placement of up to 30 days while the child is awaiting placement at another more restrictive treatment facility.

CRR Host Home Treatment
The Community Residential Rehabilitation (CRR) Host Home program is designed for seriously emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children and youth who require and can benefit from placement in the community with a family. The program is intended to help the child for whom it is medically necessary to understand and resolve emotional problems, learn new adaptive behaviors, and attain sufficient self-control to enable him or her to live successfully in a less restrictive setting through the use of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, based on the Blueprints for Violence Prevention model. Family relationships are supported and enhanced as well, as parents become active participants in the treatment, learning and applying the same behavior-shaping techniques used in the CRR host home. The service is delivered by an identified treatment team that is made of a CRR Worker, Family Worker, and the Program Supervisor.

Lifesharing Through Family Living
The Lifesharing Through Family Living program is designed for children and youth diagnosed with developmental disabilities who can benefit from placement with a caregiving family in the community. The goal is for individuals, ages three through 21 at time of referrel, the opportunity to grow and develop to their fullest potential by "sharing" in the day-to-day life of an approved caregiving family. Through the nurturance, support, and coaching offered by surrogate caregivers, the individual is encouraged to participate in healthy and productive relationships. Emphasis is placed upon the learning of new adaptive behaviors and skills, and the attainment of a functional level which maximizes the individual's capacity to become as self-determining and self-sufficient as possible. Family relationships are supported and enhanced as well, as the individual’s parent/legal guardian becomes an active participant in the individual’s services, goal planning, and ongoing habilitation. This program is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Office of Developmental Programs.