Women's Services 
Serving Children and Families
Willamette Family provides a continuum of Family Services designed to meet the needs of individuals and families. We recognize that the needs of their children must be incorporated into a successful treatment and recovery plan for their parents. Fewer than 9% of addiction treatment programs nationally incorporate the co-residency, parenting, and wraparound services that are available through Willamette Family. Our “Families in Recovery” was a National Demonstration Model in 1994, and was a crucial first step toward integrating the multiple needs of families touched by the disease of addiction. As the needs of our community have increased, Willamette Family has continued to proactively respond to evolving issues.
Today, Willamette Family provides family services that are individualized and meet the level of intensity required by family circumstances, including those who are also involved with child welfare and the corrections systems. Family Advocates meet with parents as they enter treatment to identify any needs they may have and to develop a plan that will help them successfully achieve their goals .
For most families who are not mandated for services by child welfare or corrections, the following service array is available:
- Co-residency for children 0-6, as appropriate
- Family support services for older children and extended family members
- Visits: supervised and/or unsupervised
- Onsite therapeutic child care
- Parenting classes
- Family Advocacy
- Mental Health Services
- Coordination and linkages to other community resources
- Transition and Aftercare services, including home visitation
The Family Reunion Program
When families are involved with the legal systems of child welfare and/or corrections, they may be directed to engage in mandatory services. Willamette Family can play a key role in removing barriers to accessing these services and in helping parents meet their requirements. For children in the child welfare system, these services may safely prevent the need for foster care altogether, or help return them from foster care to their parents. These services are provided by the Family Reunion Program, and include:
- Co-residency as part of family preservation/reunification, with 24/7 staff support, mentoring, and supervision
- Intensive family preservation/reunification services to increase child safety, build parenting skills, and promote parent-child attachment
- Family Support services for older children and extended family members
- 1:1 parent education, mentoring, and support with video-taped feedback sessions to build parenting skills and confidence
- Use of the National Family Preservation and Reunification Scale to measure progress/safety during treatment
- Supervised and enhanced parent-child visits
- Onsite Child Development Center assessments and services with parental involvement and staff mentoring
- Mental Health counseling
- Parenting classes using “Make Parenting a Pleasure” and “Circle of Security” curricula
- Domestic Violence group therapy
- Family Advocacy, including facilitating/participating in integrated case staffings that include the parents, child welfare, attorneys, and other community providers as indicated
- Transition and Aftercare services including home visiting and connections to ongoing community resources
Over 80% of the children who have received Family Reunion Services remain with their parents at closure. No child has been re-abused, and parental recovery rates are significantly improved. In foster care costs alone, over $1.2M has been saved since the inception of this program (January 2007). It is cost effective, children are safe, and families are strengthened.
Moving Back to the Community
The Family Safe House is a transitional “step down” program for women and their children under 2. Up to five families at a time may reside in a lovely home situated in the community where they participate in individualized service plan to help them make a successful transition back to the community. All are successfully engaged in Willamette Family outpatient treatment and have their children living with them.
You Can Help!
Funding for these programs relies heavily upon private foundations and individual contributions, including those from the Oregon Community Foundation, the Chambers Family Foundation, Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation, the Eugene-Springfield-Cottage Grove Great Rotary Duck Race, Union Pacific Railroad, Lane County Health and Human Services, and Oregon Department of Human Services-Child Welfare.
For more information to add your support, please contact
Susie Dey, MSW
Director of Children and Family Services
687 Cheshire St.
Eugene, OR 97402
(541) 684 4150
susied@wfts.org
Contact Information:
Family Services: (541) 343-2993