Family Team Meetings (FMT) is a strength-based service that invites families and others to come together as the best people to plan and make decisions for family members. Services help engage families and find solutions for both immediate and long-term needs related to safety, well-being, and permanency.
Family Team Meetings at Family Services of NW PA bring together all parties involved with the case to formulate a case plan as a team based on the initial child welfare concerns that warranted the family being opened for services with the Erie County Office of Children and Youth or Mercer County Children and Youth Services. This includes the family and any informal supports they identify, the Children and Youth Services caseworker, and any other providers involved with the family.
Goals of Family Team Meeting:
- Strengthen family engagement
- Improve Family Service Place development
- Increase communication between the family, the office of children and youth, and other service providers working with the family
- Reduce re-entry of families
- Identify informal supports to help sustain changes over time
Family Team Meeting Structure
Family Team Meetings use traditional family problem-solving techniques to increase family communication, reduce re-entry, increase the use of kinship care, and improve the quality of Family Services Plans.
Family Team Meetings will last roughly 90 minutes. If the defined tasks of the meeting cannot be completed during that time, an additional session could be scheduled.
A Family Team Meeting will include:
- Welcome and Introductions
- Presenting Strengths
- Presenting Concerns
- Brainstorm
- Create Goals
- Debrief
- Wrap Up
Referrals
Family Team Meetings are available to families with children ages 0-18 who are transitioning from intake to ongoing services and those who are under court order. Referrals must be made by:
- Erie County Office of Children and Youth (OCY)
- Mercer County Children and Youth Services (CYS)
