The Need
An alternative to foster care or psychiatric in-patient placement of children is sometimes needed to prevent children from being split from their families. Intensive intervention in the family’s home in times of crisis teaches the family how to live together safely and prevent out-of-home placement of children into foster care.
The Program Intensive In-Home Services (IIS) provides short-term (four to six weeks) intensive home-based services to families with one or more children who are at imminent risk of being removed from their family into out-of-home placement. IIS is offered on a voluntary basis to these select families, and the family must agree to the terms of service. IIS addresses the immediate needs of the family to prevent placement. Families are then referred to community resources and counseling programs as needed for ongoing and longer-term services.
Services Provided
• Behavioral skills teaching focus
• Parenting education
• Family therapy
• Building communication skills
• Help with obtaining food, utilities, housing, clothing or other needs
• Building skills to help improve the home management
• Help with budgeting and financial planning
• Emphasis on culturally relevant services
• Mutually developed goals to prevent out-of-home placement
Staff IIS therapists carry small case loads (two families at a time) so they can be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week for their families. Families spend at least eight hours per week directly working with their IIS therapist to identify problem areas and goals and implement solution actions.
Criteria for Referral Families are appropriate for IIS when one or more children are at imminent risk (within 72 hours) of out-of-home placement due to abuse or neglect or other family problems threatening the children's welfare. Only such families where the intensive services have been assessed as a safe alternative to placement are accepted for IIS.
Process of Referral Most families are referrals from the Missouri Children's Division (CD) in response to their investigations of calls they have received on the child abuse hotline. IIS receives referrals on a rotation basis with partnering agencies to take referrals from CD. Occasionally, IIS receives referrals from other agencies with the ability to petition Family Court to remove a child from the home, including the court system, physicians, and referrals are also accepted from the families themselves in some instances.
If you would like to make a referral, please call the on-call referral pager at (314) 855-0946. Leave a verbal or numeric message and the referral person will call you back, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will arrange a first screening to confirm eligibility for the program.
Program Partners IIS works in partnership with CD City and County, Central Baptist Family Services, Hopewell Center, and Edgewood Children and Family Services to serve St. Louis City and County families. Family Resource Center also provides IIS in Jefferson County.
Contact Information To make a referral to Intensive In-home Services, call (314) 855-0946, leave a verbal or numeric message, and the referral person will call you back. For more information about Intensive In-home Services, please call our Intake Department via
email or by phone at (314) 534-9350.