The Ranch is giving more families the opportunity to reunite and to live together.
The Family Treatment Program (FTP) will expand its services in efforts to alleviate pressures on the program’s wait-list.
The FTP will grow by three families, three rental units, and three staff (a clinical supervisor, a family preservation therapist, and a family treatment worker).
The program will also increase their efforts to involve fathers with the launch of Dad’s Group, a pilot project designed to encourage and advocate for greater father involvement.
“Expansion should be slow and incremental to maintain the integrity of the program,” explained Patti Petrucka, Director of the FTP. “We don’t want to jeopardize the safety of our families, so a slow and incremental approach to expansion is the safest way for us and our families to move forward.”
The FTP started in 2006, with a pilot project from Hilsden House and then out of Patti’s house with two staff and two families. The program quickly expanded securing office space, and doubling its staff and clients. In 2009, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Social Services began referring families to the program.
There has been increasing demand over the past few years and a growing waitlist since 2012, said Patti.
“There are currently 20 families on the wait-list, and while that may not sound like a lot, our turnover rate is slow; families stay in the program for an average of six months.”
The FTP is the only program of its kind in North America. It works to improve family safety, family functioning, and child well-being so families can remain together safely. The program works to either prevent the placement of children out of their home or to assist families to reunite after having a child in care.
Families are provided with comprehensive services including 24/7 on call services, intensive in-home family support services, clinical and educational services, counselling, family therapy, family camps, cultural programming and more. Adults learn about effective parenting, communication, mood management, life skills, budgeting, nutrition, household management, and how to access community resources.
The program is available to suitable and referred families from across Canada. During their time in the program, families may live in one of 10 rental homes located in the city of Regina, or services can be delivered to families in their own home when they live in the Regina community.
After completion of the in-residence treatment, families are connected to after-care services to assist their successful transition to their communities.
A formal follow-up is completed two, six, and 12 months following discharge. During the final assessment, the FTP evaluates and reports the family’s success.
“Success is defined differently for each family,” said Patti. “Sometimes reunifying doesn’t mean success; sometimes making an amazing plan for the future, for each family member, is success.”
In 2013, the FTP reported that 71 per cent of families remained together at the end of the program.
“Seventy-one per cent may not sound like a lot, but it’s really a remarkable statistic given that most of our families have had their children in care for years, sometimes since birth.”
