Sean and his sister Hanna had been living in a homeless shelter for a week when they were placed in the Family Care Network’s Emergency Shelter program. The siblings, 10 and 8, had been staying with their father who was homeless. When placed in Emergency Shelter, both children displayed a lot of high-needs as a result of their unstable home life. Sean suffered from nightmares, which caused him to be despondent during the day. Hanna was prone to physical and verbal outbursts; responding defiantly towards adults she didn’t trust. Additionally, both children had fallen behind in school.

During their first few days in Emergency Shelter, the children’s mother was located and informed of their situation. Heartbroken, their mother committed to improving her circumstances so that the children could be reunified with her. Sean and Hanna were referred to the Family Care Network’s Therapeutic Behavioral Services (TBS) program and matched with individual TBS workers to receive extra support while in school and their foster home. Due to their behaviors, TBS services targeted Sean and Hanna’s coping skills and aimed to teach them better ways of expressing their needs. While Sean and Hanna worked with TBS, the Department of Social Services linked their mother with resources and provided her with parenting classes to help prepare her for being reunited with her children.

At first, Sean and Hanna responded defensively towards their TBS workers, so the workers focused on building a strong rapport and providing the children with unconditional support. As Sean and Hanna adjusted to TBS, they learned that the adults in their lives could be trusted, as they were there to help. Hanna’s behaviors improved as her TBS worker taught her how to express her needs to others in more appropriate ways, and she no longer got overly frustrated by her emotions. As Sean became more comfortable with his stable surroundings, his nightmares stopped. The more rest Sean got at night, the more alert and cooperative he was during the day. Soon, Sean was showing that he could excel at school.

Sean and Hanna’s mother did very well in her parenting classes, and excitedly looked forward to reunifying with her children. When the time for reunification arrived, the family continued to receive TBS services in order to provide them with the support they needed as they adjusted to new roles and expectations. Following their graduation from TBS, Sean and Hanna’s mom called and updated a TBS Supervisor on the family’s continued success, stating that Sean was recently honored with an award for academic excellence, while Hanna was enjoying making a lot of new friends at school. From homelessness to hopefulness—Sean and Hanna’s story is truly an inspirational one!

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*names and photos of clients are ficticious to protect their identity