Overview
Our Foster Family Agency Stabilization and Treatment (FFAST) program is the sole provider contracted with the County of San Diego to provide therapy and other services to foster youth, ages 0 to 21, who live in Foster Family Agency (FFA) homes in San Diego County.
We help foster children and teens who meet medical necessity for behavioral healthcare services. Most of the youth we serve are Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are dependents of the courts, and we may work with them through adoption, reunification, or other permanency options.
With a team of staff members in the community, our goal is to ensure stability in the child’s foster home placement, improve his/her health and well-being, and to work towards permanent placement. Our staff is highly specialized in working with traumatized children and youth. Training is a top priority to maintain effective and relevant therapeutic approaches.
Therapeutic Team and Approach
Our clinical team consists of therapists, a psychiatrist, a psychiatric nurse, family partners, and graduate interns in social work. In the spirit of the Center’s EMBRACE Model, the following evidence-based practices are used, along with attention to many other domains in the model that affect the child’s health:
- Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
- Motivational Interviewing (MI)
- Managing and Adaptive Practice (MAP)
- Positive Discipline
Comprehensive services include:
- Individual therapy for the child
- Family therapy (foster, biological, and adoptive)
- Group therapy
- Parent training groups
- Crisis intervention
- Family support and rehabilitation
- Case management
- Collateral support
- Medication evaluation and monitoring
Services are generally provided during after-school hours, in a location convenient for the child and family (generally at home.) Psychiatry and other services are provided at our centrally-located office in Serra Mesa.
We have experienced wonderful outcomes with the children and families in our care. We believe that being flexible, setting meaningful goals and working with a team of people in the child’s environment (biological family members, community resources and other) are key to the child’s overall success.
Referrals to FFAST Program Services
Referrals to FFAST are typically made by FFA social workers, but are sometimes made by county social workers. The attached referral form can be printed and faxed to FFAST at (858) 737-6972. If you would like a form fill version of this form, please email Aisha Pope at apope@centerforchildren.org or call (858) 633-4115.
Contact our FFAST Program
For more information about our FFAST Program, please contact:
Address
San Diego Center for Children
Foster Family Agency Stabilization and Treatment (FFAST) Program
2655 Camino del Rio North, Suite 450
San Diego, CA 92108Phone
Si necesita ayuda para su hijo(a) o tiene preguntas, llámenos al (858) 277-9550.