PO Box 1171 Stanardsville, VA
[email protected]
434.400.8458

Services

Community Based Services

Lean on Me Family Services, LLC offers interventions designed to help parents and caregivers resolve common problems and crises that may impact their family’s ability to thrive. These services aim to improve relationships and social functioning while preserving a family’s ability to stay safely together or to promote reunification.

We work with children and families in their own homes and communities, where services are most effective and convenient. Research clearly shows the positive impact of conducting services in families’ homes as opposed to an office setting. Home is where challenges exist and where change must occur.  Services are as follows:

Family Preservation Program

This intensive program is designated for families that have children that are at immediate risk of being placed in foster care. Our goal is to address the following:

  • Helping parents/caregivers identify and build upon their strengths and resolve problems at home and within their own community.
  • Teaching parents to advocate for their children in school and other public settings and connects families to community resources and support networks that can help.
  • Addressing identified child safety and risk factors.
  • Preventing further abuse or neglect by strengthening the family’s capacity to protect and nurture their children.
  • Providing services in a manner to reduce or eliminate re-traumatization to children and families.
  • Engaging children and families in the planning process while producing better outcomes of well-being, safety, and permanence.

The Family Preservation Program demonstrates notable effectiveness in scenarios where identifiable parenting behaviors are linked to either the emergence or exacerbation of disruptive behaviors in children. This model is particularly beneficial in cases where traditional interventions, such as parenting classes or individual counseling sessions with the parents, have failed to yield significant improvements. In such instances, it becomes essential to adopt a more immersive and practical approach, allowing caregivers to engage in firsthand learning. This hands-on method facilitates a deeper understanding of effective parenting strategies by enabling caretakers to explore real-time dynamics within the family environment. By focusing on the specific behaviors that impact child behavior, this model empowers parents to implement meaningful changes in their day-to-day interactions with their children.

This program includes the following services when requested by worker: weekly random drugs screens, parent coaching, safety check pop-ins, adult life skills coaching, FPM appearances, transportation services, treatment team meetings, and court appearances.

Family Reunification Program

This intensive program is designated for families that have children placed in foster care or with family members due to abuse and/or neglect. Our goal is to address the following:

  • Client’s capacity to parent and to assure the child’s health and safety. This will be demonstrated by regular supervised visitation in which each parent displays meaningful changes in their day-to-day interactions with their children.
  • Client’s involvement in assuming more parental responsibilities (e.g., doctor appointments, parent-teacher conferences, group therapy, involvement in recreational activities, better financial management).
  • Demonstrated ability to care for themselves so that they can meet the needs of their children.
  • Demonstrated improvement in parental choices, decisions, and relationships, which lead to a safer and healthier environment for their children.
  • Acceptance of responsibility for maltreatment of the child and demonstration of empathy for the impact of the effects of the maltreatment on the child.
  • Establishment of an ongoing support network consisting of other family members, neighborhood or community, church, etc.
  • Any other listed barrier set forth in the foster care service plan.

This program includes weekly random drugs screens, parent coaching, structured supervised visitation, adult life skills coaching, FPM appearances, transportation services, treatment team meetings, and court appearances. We take the burden of setting up and supervising visitation and random drug screens for our DSS case managers. All services are intended to support the family’s ability to safely and in a timely fashion have their child returned home and resume legal custody of the child.