Columnist Sandra Thompson: Family Preservation Program true to its name

Sandra Thompson

Sunday, Nov. 14, 1999 | 9:47 a.m.

Sandra Thompson is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or through e-mail at thompson@lasvegassun.com.

WHEN KAREN'S 8-year-old son didn't come home one day last January, she was frantic. She called the police.

She was relieved when the boy was found at a friend's house. The police, however, were disturbed by what they found at Karen's house.

The place was a mess. It was so dirty that the police took the boy and his four siblings to Child Haven and charged Karen and her husband with "environmental neglect."

"We were extremely upset," Karen says. "I wasn't sleeping or eating. I was running on automatic pilot."

Her mother-in-law, who had lived with the family for 10 years, had died the day after Thanksgiving. That was stressful enough. With the kids gone, Karen felt at her wit's end.

"I'd tie myself in knots if necessary to get the kids back," she says.

Through Family Court, Karen and her husband were referred to the Family Preservation Program, operated by the state Division of Child and Family Services.

Families are usually referred to the program by Child Protective Services, where there is a risk of out-of-home placement. With intervention, though, the children could safely stay in the home.

Karen and her husband love their five children, who range in age from 3 to 14. Three of the children take accelerated classes in school. From what is known, there was no abuse.

The Family Preservation Program focuses on strengths rather than problems, according to Sue Mears, program supervisor.

After three weeks, Karen and her husband were reunited with the children and began meeting with a social worker in the Family Preservation Program.

It's an intensive, one-on-one program that takes place in the home -- not in an office where families may feel the social worker is in control.

The hours aren't traditional either, according to Patty Merrifield, clinical program manager for intensive family services. They are at the convenience of the family. Since most clients work, the meetings take place in the evenings and sometimes on weekends. The social worker is on call 24 hours a day.

The program represents a "significant paradigm shift," Merrifield says, in that it emphasizes the positives rather than negatives.

Families naturally are suspicious, concerned that any "wrong move" would result in their children being taken away. Families respond better, Mears says, when the approach is nonthreatening, nonblaming.

"You need something to build on with the family -- inner strengths," Merrifield says. "You have to give people hope, a motivation for change."

Karen says she and the social worker "hit it off well."

"She helped us make a plan. We weren't well organized."

Karen made a chore chart for the four older children. Each week she keeps track of what progress is made. There are privileges and "lost privileges," such as television time. Karen and her husband also have responsibilities.

"The kids seem happier," Karen says.

Where would they be without the program?

"Probably living in the same mess. I don't want to go back there," Karen says.

She advises people new to the program to relax and not be angry.

The program also includes visiting homemakers who take families to doctor appointments and help them with parenting, homemaking, nutrition and budgeting skills.

Social workers work with other entities such as schools and psychologists if necessary.

A December 1998 study for the School of Social Work at the University of Nevada, Reno, concluded that families who complete the program "make considerable gains in every aspect of family functioning: the environment, social support, caretaking abilities, family interaction and child well-being. They make the greatest gains in areas where they were weakest at intake, because goals tend to be set in those domains."

Karen appreciates the program's benefits. Her house is still a bit messy, but the family is working on that. She sees progress.

There are positives to build on. Karen talks proudly about her oldest daughter's achievements in school and how she'd like to move from their run-down neighborhood.

Most of all, she says, "I'd like to find a way to keep my kids safe at all costs."

Judge Bob Gaston has recused himself from a controversial foster care case that had been profiled here. Foster parents, caseworkers and others had opposed returning a 5-year-old girl and her 2-year-old brother to their mother because of concerns about their well-being. The case is being reassigned to another judge.