Family Visitation Services – Tennessee
Omni Visions has home and community-based Family Visitation Services for populations that include:
- Children age 0-18 in state custody
- Non-custodial children and adolescents where there is a court order (or requirement) for supervised or therapeutic family visitation with non-custodial parent(s).
Services focus on non-continuum custodial children and adolescents, typically placed in foster homes or in custodial relative placements.
Benefits of Family Visitation
Family Visitation Services focus on building:
- Protective factors
- Parental skills
- Self-regulatory capacity
- Interpersonal skills between parents and children
Family visitation can also:
- Reduce a child’s sense of loss and separation while in custodial care
- Preserve the child’s relationships with parents and siblings
- Assist in the process of assessing progress toward a parent’s ability to achieve reunification and release from custody
Family Visitation Services include:
- Conducting supervised and therapeutic visitation
- Improving parenting skills through teaching, coaching, and modeling
- Teaching self-regulation, stress reduction, and conflict resolution
- Teaching protective factors to promote health and resiliency
- Assisting parents in developing safe, stable and nurturing relationships
Backgrounds of Children and Families Admitted Into Family Visitation Services
Children and families have a variety of backgrounds, with many having family histories that include:
- Trauma
- Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Behavioral Symptoms
- Emotional Difficulties
Most Family Visitation Services children have been placed in state custody and have specific Permanency Plan goals that the parent(s), child(ren) and all stakeholders are working towards. These families present with many different service and supervision needs. Issues may include:
- Substance abuse
- Domestic violence
- Mental health issues
- Medical issues
- Sexual, emotional or physical abuse
Assessment and Planning for Therapeutic Visitation
Omni Visions Family Visitation Services begin with an authorized referral from a referring Department of Children’s Services (DCS) caseworker.
An initial assessment is then completed with the child(ren) and family/permanency resource within the first 30 days of services. In addition to collecting history, the assessment focuses on:
- Identifying safety issues
- Potential substance abuse
- Domestic violence
- Mental health issues
- Medical issues
- The parents’ coping skills
- The child’s strengths, needs, resources, and support systems
The assessment uses both subjective and objective information and is updated monthly as the family progresses through the program. The comprehensive assessment process also serves as the foundation of an individualized Family Visitation Services service plan, which becomes the centralized document to focus activities and interventions.
The Service Plan includes:
- Goals/desired outcomes identified jointly
- Steps the parent(s) agree to take to achieve the desired outcomes
- The recommended Family Visitation services
Venues for Therapeutic Visitation
Visitation with children and their families occurs on a regular and scheduled basis, with safety factors paramount.
Venues for visitation are close to where parents live or where their children attend school. Hours for scheduling visitation are expanded beyond the traditional workday.
Omni staff evaluates the natural interactions and interventions between children and parents and document their appropriateness. Staffers also document the parents’ response to these efforts and their ability to incorporate new skills and learning.
All Omni Family Visitation staff members and services are delivered under the supervision of a licensed master’s level clinical supervisor.
For additional information or to make a referral, call Omni Visions toll-free at (877) 258-8795.