Family Centered Treatment® (FCT)

Family Centered Treatment® (FCT) is a comprehensive, evidence-based trauma treatment model of intensive in-home services for at-risk children, adolescents and their families.  FCT is designed to work with children and families who have long/complex treatment needs, including multiple episodes of out of home placement and psychiatric hospitalizations. FCT is a preventative, stabilization and reunification service designed to end cycles of maladaptive family functioning and break the multi-generational transmission of trauma.

FCT is a researched, viable alternative to residential placements, hospitalization, correctional facility placement and other community-based services.

FCT is a time-limited, intensive intervention that is intended to accomplish the following:

• Prevent out-of-home placement for the youth;
• Ensure successful transitions of care from residential services to home settings;
• Reduce presenting psychiatric or substance use disorder symptoms;
• Provide initial crisis response interventions;
• Ensure linkage to community services and resources;

The goals of Family Centered Treatment (FCT) are:

• Enable family stability via preservation of or development of a family placement.
• Enable the necessary changes in the critical areas of family functioning that are the underlying causes for the risk of family dissolution.
• Bring a reduction in hurtful and harmful behaviors affecting family functioning.
• Develop an emotional and functioning balance in the family so that the family system can cope effectively with any individual member’s intrinsic or unresolvable challenges.
• Enable changes in referred client behavior to include family system involvement so that changes are not dependent upon the therapist.
• Enable discovery and effective use of the intrinsic strengths necessary for sustaining the changes made and enabling stability.
• Address systemic dynamics of trauma on the family system not just the individual.

Children and adolescents eligible for FCT may be involved in the juvenile justice system, child welfare system, residing in out-of-home placements and in need for reunification and may display severe emotional and behavioral challenges due to maltreatment (neglect, abuse), trauma (from domestic violence, sexual abuse, substance abuse, etc.), and/or serious mental health disorders.

FCT is designed to find simple, practical, and common-sense solutions for families faced with disruption or dissolution of their family. FCT can be utilized to prevent an out of home placement or assist with reunifying the child back home from an out of home placement

FCT works with the entire family system.

FCT is one of few multifaceted home-based service models with extensive experience with youth with severe emotional and behavioral challenges, child welfare needs and mental health diagnosis as well as histories of delinquent behavior, otherwise known as crossover youth. FCT providers are expected to adopt a “no reject, no eject” admission approach and provide 24/7 crisis services as needed.

Services typically last 6-8 months.

We are proud to offer FCT in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia.

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