Causes: Education

Mission: The institute for child and family health is committed to empowering the children, youth and families of miami-dade county, florida by providing services that enhance their emotional, physical and educational well-being.

Programs: Outpatient mental health service the outpatient mental health services provided to children and families included individual, family, and group therapy sessions, psychological testing, psychiatric assessment, medication management, and psycho-social rehabilitation. The services were delivered on an outpatient basis in the icfh clinics, at schools, and at homes. Therapy services were delivered on an average of one time per week (although some individuals required a greater frequency and/or multiple services). More than 6,000 children and their families were served in the 2013-2014 fy. The objectives of this program are determined by the needs and status of the emotional and behavioral status of the children enrolled. They included the reduction of absenteeism, juvenile crime, substance use, depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, thought process problems, cognitive performance problems, medical and physical problems, traumatic stress, interpersonal relationship problems, behavior problems at school and home, and danger to self and/or others. Improvement is tracked using the children's functional assessment rating scale. The data from this program demonstrated that overall children and families receiving these services have stabilized and have demonstrated improvement in the areas that related to their specific presenting problems.

other programs icfh implements a school health program at twenty five local public schools. This program includes teams of nurses, health technicians, and at times, a social worker who provide prevention and intervention services at these selected schools. During the 2013-2014 school year, the program staff provided services to over 10,000 unduplicated students. Services included screenings such as vision and body mass index, immunization checks, nursing assessments and counseling, first aid, and consultation to school personnel and parents.

crisis, prevention, and case management icfh has provided a number of evidence-based services this fiscal year. This included functional family therapy. Functional family therapy is a treatment model that is listed as a blueprints model from the center for the study and prevention of violence of the university of colorado boulder. It is also a recommended model of the national institute on drug abuse. Functional family therapy is an outcome-driven prevention/intervention program for youth who have demonstrated the entire range of maladaptive, acting out behaviors and related syndromes. Icfh has been implementing this model for over 14 years with great success. This year the program provided services to over 400 families with youth who have been arrested, served time in a juvenile detention facility, and/or is at risk for court involvement. Funding for this program comes through five sources. Outcomes for this program includes an average recidivism rate of one percent. Agency accomplishments through the dedication of its staff and collaborative partners, institute for child and family health (icfh) had numerous accomplishments during the 2013-2014 fiscal year, icfh served over 30,000 children and their families during this year in health, mental health, educational, substance abuse, and violence prevention programs. Most of the services took place in miami-dade county, but some services were also offered in monroe and broward counties. Icfh implemented thirty six programs and five sub-programs totaling forty-one programs for the year. There were four main health and wellness programs, nine child and family counseling, thirteen violence prevention, two substance abuse prevention, six literacy and educational development, and two primary professional training programs. Many audits and reviews from funding agencies and other entities that took place during the year found our programs and services to be exemplary (both in terms of compliance and general patient outcome), and were very positive about the management of our programs in all operational areas (legal, fiscal, hr, etc. ). Any issues were immediately addressed and rectified leaving all programs in good standing. In addition, several of our programs received special commendation from funders and others. Funding sources remain diversified from state funding, united way, the children's trust, miami-dade county, the department of child and families, samhsa, miami-dade county public schools, and local foundations. All program managers continue to focus on performance and quality improvement.