EveryChild, Inc. — Family-Based Alternatives Model Project

Statewide Need
Permanency planning has been federally mandated for children since 1980 but has not, until recently, been a protection for children in the disability services system. While Texas has shown leadership in this area, implementation has been hampered by lack of availability of family-based alternatives to facility care. With funding from The Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities and the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), EveryChild’s Family-Based Alternatives Project has developed and implemented a new model of services that enables children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to live with families. While continued HHSC funding supports EveryChild’s core effort, there are activities not supported by those funds that could contribute to the substantial progress made toward development of a system of family-based alternatives to institutions.

Project Goal
Develop a model for family-based alternatives for children with IDD who live in institutions or who are at risk of being placed in institutions.

Project Summary
This project was proposed to provide support for a broad coalition of individuals and organizations that believe children should have the right to grow up in families. The project sought to develop a model for family-based alternatives for children with IDD who lived in institutions or who were at risk of being placed in institutions. This model was to encompass the unique needs of the child, the birth family, and the alternative family. At the time, more than 1,200 children under the age of 21 lived in institutions in Texas.