Families4Change, Inc. at a glance . . .

Families4Change (F4C) is a nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce recidivism rates, problem behaviors, and truancy among first-time juvenile offenders and at-risk school-age youth. We have two missions: (1) to provide direct services to youth and families and (2) to provide training to professionals in other communities who wish to implement the Family Solutions Program (FSP).

We provide an alternative to probation and/or school suspension through family-based intervention and group support. We also provide support to children within the school system to help strengthen the home-school partnership and reduce the rate of truancy and problem behaviors among students.

Family Solutions consists of ten weekly two-hour sessions in a multiple-family group format. The group generally has six to eight families participating and at least one professionally trained leader assisted by college students or adult volunteers.

Some groups topics include:

• group trust and support
• conflict resolution
• parenting skills
• academic success
• family communication and cooperation
• strengthening home-school partnerships
• decision-making and problem-solving skills

Our goal is to foster change in the youth and the family so that family reorganization will decrease the likelihood of repeat offenses and problem behaviors. The family-based interventions of the program strive to modify undesirable youth behaviors and the family environments that contribute to delinquency and truancy.

We began in Athens, Georgia in 1992 as a collaboration of the Juvenile Court and the Department of Child and Family Development at the University of Georgia. Having demonstrated its ability to reduce recidivism rates, F4C, Inc. (the Family Solutions Program) currently operates in Athens-Clarke County and also has expanded to many counties across the state of Georgia. Additionally, F4C has expanded throughout the country by training professionals in other states and our program has recently expanded into school systems around Georgia.

F4C has successfully reached over 1200 youth and families. Graduates of the program have a re-offense rate of 24 percent, as compared to 43 percent of youth not attending. In addition, youth who graduate from the program are 9 times less likely to re-offend than first-offender youth who are placed on probation, and this higher success rate has been found for both males and females and African-American and Caucasian youth.

Through F4C, youth service workers, schools officials and juvenile justice staff discover an effective way to change the lives of youth utilizing the family. A sense of community forms to validate and nurture the participants, who can initially be angry, isolated, discouraged, and confused. The professionals serve as facilitators of group support and problem-solving by drawing on the commitment, compassion, and insight of all the family members. By graduation, families are looking ahead with enthusiasm to life together and the possibilities for new opportunities and success in the future.