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Family Involvement:
Families Are Involved at Every Step
Family involvement is critical to our students’ success,
both while they are at Germaine Lawrence and after they
return home. Their families' participation gives them hope,
something to work towards. It also provides opportunities
to solve problems and practice skills that will make reunification
not just possible, but successful. Even when independent
living as opposed to family reunification is the goal, we
continue to emphasize the importance of strengthening and
maintaining family relationships.
Read a letter from a parent about how Germaine Lawrence
made a difference for his daughter and his family.
Click here.
Family Therapy
We hold family therapy every other week. Initially, the
focus of family therapy is to help the family members connect
with Germaine Lawrence and feel comfortable as they learn
about our program. The Treatment Coordinator also uses family
therapy to gather information about the student’s
history as well as identify family focused treatment goals.
As the treatment continues, the focus of family therapy
shifts to identifying ways the student and her family can
strengthen their relationship, and improve family communication
and functioning. 
Family Visits
Family visits are also a critical part of a girl’s
treatment and every effort is made to support safe, successful
and consistent visits of a student with her family. Overnight
visits are encouraged after increased visiting time at home
and in the community. Since we see family visits as treatment,
they are not privileges that must be earned. Visits are
unique learning opportunities; problems during visits provide
useful material for therapy sessions.
Family Involvement
Germaine Lawrence offers families a variety of ways to be
engaged, including the following:
- Parent orientation to provide a comprehensive understanding
of our services
- Family support groups to discuss topics of interested
generated from families, share experiences, and provide
parent skills training.
- Family dinner nights, which are opportunities for families
to spend time with their daughters, have a nice meal, and
have fun together in post-meal activities.
- Bi-monthly family newsletter that includes parenting tips and information about upcoming program events.
- Parent Advisory Group that gives parents an opportunity to share their feedback
- Family Innovation Fund that used donated funds to assist families to encourage their participation in treatment. Funds have been used for travel, babysitting for siblings, hotel accommodations, and interpreter fees.
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