Ranch Ehrlo’s innovative Family Treatment Program (FTP) and Intensive Family Preservation Program (IFPS) were awarded a Child Welfare League of Canada (CWLC) ) Children’s Services Award on March 22, 2012 in Ottawa. The award recognizes staff teams that demonstrate exceptional and measureable commitment, creativity, and dedication in their direct work with children, youth and/or families.

The FTP, now in its 7^th year, works with families of children receiving residential treatment from the Ranch, but is open to referrals from other sources. The program is unique in that it provides the entire family a comprehensive array of services, including:  housing, food, clothing, recreation and a range of clinical services including psychiatry and psychology. The FTP team assists families to obtain the knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully reunify children to their care.

The IFPS, in its 3^rd year, is an intensive, community-based, in-home family program. It is designed to serve families with children who are at imminent risk of being placed in care. The program includes components such as low caseloads (two families per therapist), four to six week service duration, 24/7 on-call support and the provision of concrete, clinical, and support services.

David Rivers, Senior Director of Programs, Patti Petrucka, Program Manager of the family programs, Lynn Thera, Family Preservation Therapist, and Ranch CEO Dr. Marion MacIver were on hand to accept the award.

“Both our programs share the same philosophy of keeping youth safe and improving the functioning of families.” Patti commented. “Our caring and professional staff is doing an excellent job of providing families with new skills and knowledge to make them even stronger. It is great to see their work recognized.”

 “The staff demonstrates their commitment to families each and every day while at work but also through their own personal involvements.” David added,” The passion, commitment, and hard work of the teams are second-to-none and are truly deserving of this great honor.”

Approximately 88% of families are still intact at the program completion, which is another indicator of the hard work that the program team has contributed to every client.