Neighbor To Family’s mission is
...Revolutionize foster care by keeping siblings together while building healthier families and stronger communities.
Neighbor To Family’s vision is
…Building an award-winning National program recognized by our communities (and peers) as a family-oriented organization. Our professional teams will support and implement a comprehensive array of services to keep siblings together through programs with proven results and successful outcomes relating to children’s safety, permanency, stability, and well-being.
Neighbor To Family Culture Statement
Neighbor To Family, Inc. is a national organization comprised of people that execute locally (i.e., in the community supporting children and families). The local programs are integrated nationwide through the implementation of best practices; and further supported by our lean, centralized administrative support function. This approach allows Neighbor to Family to be administratively consistent and efficient by freeing local staff to “do what it takes” to meet the needs of children and families.
Core Program Intervention Components
- Keeping Siblings Together
- Placing One Siblings group with One Family at a Time
- Professional Foster Caregivers
- Birth Family Engagement
- Foster Caregivers Mentoring Birth Family
- Keeping Children in their community of origin; Supporting a cultural sensitive approach to intervention strategies
- Neighbor To Family Team Meetings
- Trauma Informed Care
Why NTF?
- Keeps siblings together, thus minimizing sense of loss and allowing children to stabilize more quickly
- Increases standards and accountability of foster caregivers
- More cost effective than traditional foster care, due to less need for multiple homes, lower staff and foster caregiver turnover rates, and ability to move children to permanency more quickly
Unique Program Features
- We accept siblings groups of any size
- Only one sibling group is placed per foster family
- Clinical services are an integral feature of all programs
- Aggressive outreach to birth parents and extended family
- Comprehensive, community-based services
Innovative Program Features
- Strong emphasis on reunification
- Team approach
- Small caseload (an average of 7 families per case manager)
- Aftercare services provided following reunification
- Sibling placement in one foster family located in their own community
- Salaried foster caregivers who play integral role in treatment plan
- Program Performance Outcomes
How It Affects Children and Families
- Active outreach to birth parents provides better opportunities for reunification and quicker decisions regarding termination of parental rights
- Finds and involves birth fathers
- With stability and security in place, most families make progress on resolving individual and sibling group issues more quickly
- If children are not reunified with biological family, the program seeks permanency plans that keep siblings together
- Post-placement services
