*Photo credit: The Annie E. Casey Foundation blog

Children who enter foster care have been removed from their homes by the courts due to abuse, neglect, or other family challenges. But too often, parents surrender custody of their teenager simply because they do not get along. Some parents see their teen’s behavior as out of control and judges believe more supervision through out-of-home placements will help them stay out of trouble.

According to the new report, Too Many Teens: Preventing Unnecessary Out-of-Home Placements from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, these out-of-home placements are unnecessary and can spur a downward spiral for teens.

“The key is to provide help to teens and their families when it’s needed – right away. Often, the help can be quite basic, such as providing brief medication help, and teens are able to work out their issues while staying with their families. This makes for much better results for kids, and often at dramatically reduced costs to the taxpayers.” -Tracey Field, director of Casey’s Child Welfare Strategy Group

KVC helps more than 19,000 children and families each year by providing in-home therapy. The primary goal for in-home therapy is to deliver therapeutic solutions that will keep children safe in their homes and their families. Providing treatment for families in their natural setting offers a unique opportunity for KVC staff to teach authentic coping and problem-solving skills to children and parents alike. Home-based family therapy is an evidence-based modality that offers an extremely adaptive and culturally competent approach to mental health treatment (Macchi and O’Connor 2008).

To learn more about our in-home services, click here.