Family Team Meetings were introduced to Hope Haven in 2000. These services help families discover whom their support system is and how to tap into this support system. This service begins by interviewing the family, discussing with them what their concerns are and what their strengths are. They are also asked to determine who is in their life or who should be in their life to help them make the necessary changes to empower their family.
All the people determined to be important to the empowerment of the family unit is invited to a powerful meeting with the family to discuss the concerns, the strengths and then they help to develop a plan that describes who is to do what within a certain time frame. All members of the team are to hold each other accountable to help assure the plan is implemented and the results that were identified are successful.
The focus of this service is the entire family, including the extended family. The objective is to keep the family together if safety is assured or to place the children with relatives when possible if mom and dad cannot have the children in their home.
This service is currently available in the Sioux Cluster in northwest Iowa.
