Giving children the opportunity to maintain a relationship with their parents through safe, positive, supervised visits.
The Family Transportation and Visitation Program (TVP) is a collaborative program with Children and Youth agencies to provide transportation and supervision for visits between children in out of home placements and their families. Transportation is also provided for medical and behavioral health appointments as well as any other necessary transportation needs.
The TVP Program:
Provides transportation for the children and/or families to designated places for their visits. These could include the biological family’s residence, a relative’s home, a Pinebrook Family Answers or County Children and Youth office, a residential facility, or other specified locations, including sites outside the family’s county of residence.
Visits can occur during weekdays, weeknights, holidays and weekends at a time mutually agreed upon by Pinebrook, the Children and Youth agency and the family.
Supervises or monitors the visit. Making appropriate interventions throughout the visit to ensure the emotional and physical safety of the participants.
We offer additional support to families through our Visit Coaching Program which helps children in placement cope with separation from family and supporting safe reunification.
Some of the services include:
“Facilitative supervision” of visits
Parenting skills education
Coaching and modeling of appropriate parental behavior
Pre-visit and post-visit coaching sessions occur with the parent
Written reports are provided after each visit
Court testimony is available
A Mom’s Story
When a young mother with three small children was referred to the Transportation and Visitation Program (TVP), she had only been in the country at short time and was in a relationship with an abusive partner. Feeling threatened, overwhelmed and unable to care for the children and keep them safe, she sought refuge in a local shelter. With the assistance of Children and Youth, the children were temporarily placed in foster care so their mother could gain some stability by obtaining employment and appropriate housing.
Through the involvement of a Spanish-speaking TVP worker, who supervised weekly family visits and transported the mother to necessary appointments, the mother and children maintained strong bonds and provided the mother with the language assistance and support necessary to facilitate her job hunt and housing search. Northampton County and local housing officials were instrumental in prioritizing the mother’s application for public housing and she was able to find work. The mother’s growing self-confidence and sense of security were obvious in her demeanor as she persevered over a year’s time to achieve the necessary goals to be reunified with her children.
As TVP staff observed about the family’s happy ending and the mother’s will and determination against very difficult odds, “Mom never gave up and showed us all the importance of getting back up when you feel knocked down and standing on your own two feet. She stuck with her plan, was happily reunited with her children this spring, and the family continues to grow strong.”