How CRC targets interventions to strengthen and keep families intact

The Child Reintegration Centre’s Case Management Team is focused not just on meeting the needs of vulnerable families in its program, but designing interventions that help those families move gradually toward their own independence and self-sufficiency.  The goal is always to ultimately release these families as soon as they are ready to stand on their own two feet both relationally and financially.

But how do Case Managers know what a family needs, and what will help them the most?

The Williams family is just one family on CRC Case Manager Abdulai’s caseload.  Recently, Abdulai conducted an assessment of the Willaims’ family needs using a tool he frequently uses to assess the family’s needs in 8 different domains, called the Family Status Index (FSI).  The FSI allows Abdulai to not only identify what the Williams family might need at any given point in time, but also to track how they’re progressing in these key areas and becoming stronger as a result of the CRC’s targeted interventions on their behalf.

Abdulai realized that the family has been resilient in the face of multiple challenges, but they needed a little more support if they.  Two key areas of immediate concern included food insecurity and ability to receive a regular income.  As a petty trader of charcoal, Mrs. WIlliam needed funding to buy more supplies.  As the sole caregiver for her two grandchildren, she was struggling to make ends meet and contemplating sending the children to her sister so they could get more to eat, but Abdulai, recognizing that the children are well-bonded and deeply attached to their grandmother identified key interventions that CRC could provide to keep this family intact and prevent the need for separation.
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CRC provided some raw materials for Mrs. Williams to make and sell charcoal, but they also enrolled her in a two-day financial Literacy Training course so that she can learn to manage her finances as well and make the most of the resources CRC has provided.