Child and Family Services – Mission, Vision, Values, Goals
Our mission is to ensure high quality behavioral healthcare for children ages 0 through 21 and their families by:
- leading and supporting statewide efforts to establish and strengthen a comprehensive system of care for children and families; and
- building and participating in collaborative partnerships among families and child service providers across agencies and disciplines
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Our vision is for children with behavioral health needs and their families in Virginia to be healthy productive citizens who have access to a comprehensive integrated system of care that is community-based, child-centered, family-driven, outcome-oriented, and culturally competent.
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The Office of Child and Family Services holds that supports and services for children and families whose lives are affected by mental illness, intellectual disability, and substance abuse disorders should:
- Empower families and children in developmentally appropriate ways to make choices in their lives
- Provide prompt assistance to those seeking professional support
- Promote integrated community-based services
- Ensure supports and services are easy to access, family-driven, individualized, flexible to changing needs and circumstances, culturally sensitive, and based on functional needs rather than categorical labels.
- Make available to families the level of supports and services needed to keep children with disabilities in their own homes
- Support understanding of family lifestyle limitations due to living with a family member with disabilities
- Provide education and training to providers of family support that will prepare them to work with people with disabilities in inclusive settings
- Maximize disability-specific and generic funding sources to the fullest and contain costs through reinvestment in supports which provide the strongest and most individualized outcomes for children and their families.
Children and youth with disabilities and their families:
- have dignity and worth as human beings
- deserve equal access to public support services
- need families and friends who can serve as their strongest advocates and social supports
- are entitled to health, safety, and well-being, free from abuse, neglect, exploitation, or social stigmas
- need person-centered planning rather than professionally-driven services
- have the right to live in supportive communities
- participate in successful transition to adult supports and services
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- To promote the use of evidence-based practices
- To develop a seamless system of care that integrate services across disciplines
- To partner with stakeholders working to improve services to children
- To develop policies that promote child and family services
- To address gaps in existing services
- To develop new services using evidence based practices and expand existing evidence based models
- To increase family involvement on committees, councils, task forces, addressing children issues
- Increase funding for children services
- To show case services that are working in the Commonwealth
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