Who We Are

About Us

Established in 1993, Franklin County Family and Children First Council (FCFCFC) has long-served as the hub for all child and family serving systems in the county. The Council is made up of a diverse group of partner agencies who inform, lead, and continually adapt the organization based on the needs of families within the county. Family and Children First Councils perform four core functions: engaging and empowering families, building community capacity, shared accountability, and coordinating systems and services.

The FCFCFC’s team of staff is one of passionate, multi-disciplined professionals dedicated to serving families through voice and choice and strength-based values. Through a commitment to developing trauma competent, relationship-based services, FCFCFC aims to equip children, youth, families and community partners with new skills and foster a sense of hope and resiliency.

Franklin Co. Family & Children First

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Franklin Co. Family & Children First

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Our Culture and Values

We offer a framework where equity is braided into the core fabric of all of this agency’s work. At Franklin County Family and Children First Council (FCFCFC) this commitment manifests through intentional recruitment, staff development, and advocacy for the systems we collaborate with as well as the families and children we serve. Essential components of equity include diversity and inclusion which serve as tools aimed toward the ultimate goal of an authentically just society.

Mission, Vision & Guiding Values

The mission of Franklin County Family and Children First Council is to increase the access, capacity and effectiveness of services for the most vulnerable Franklin County youth and their families.

Franklin County will be a thriving community of hopeful, healthy children and strong families.

Our guiding values, as expressed within our four core pillars, explain how we work with children and families to fulfill this mission.

Our Four Core Pillars

The National Wraparound Initiative has identified 10 Principles that guide Wraparound Services. Franklin County Family and Children First Council believes the 10 Principles are important and should be one of the four foundational pillars guiding the work of FCFC. It should be noted that the principles of wraparound are just one of the components of Wraparound Services.

1. Voice and Choice:

Those receiving services, as experts of their own situations, should be integral to and have influence over services and supports they receive. The opportunity for success increases substantially when people feel ownership over a plan that addresses their priorities and gives them choice about strategies to meet needs that are most closely aligned with their unique culture and build on their strengths.
Voice and Choice are concepts that apply to all areas of FCFC: parent voice on council, parent/caregivers with their Multi-system or HMG family teams, service provider’s voice on coaching plans, and staff’s voice on committees.

2. Team Based:

Teams are integral to the work we do at FCFC. In Wraparound, the team consists of individuals agreed upon by the family and who are committed to them through informal, formal, and community support and service relationships.
The Multi-system and Help Me Grow programs develop family teams that support the outcomes families have said are important to them. These teams assist in accessing the resources, services and supports needed to reach the family outcomes.
The BBL program convenes teams of professionals in multiple layers from administrative teams to teams of direct service providers that assist the organization in defining and achieving the outcomes that improve data for youth and families.
FCFCC convenes teams or committees to bring child serving systems together to address community wide issues that, ultimately, improve services and supports for families such as improving access to services or creating programs to fill gaps in services and supports.

3. Natural Supports:

People who represent sources of natural support often have a high degree of importance and influence in the lives of others. Such supports may also be able to provide types of support that professional services find difficult to provide. This principle emphasizes the need for the team and organization to intentionally encourage the full participation of natural supports.
Natural supports are those that a person regularly interacts with whether it is a relative, co-worker, neighbor, friend, a faith community, or a book club or other social group. If someone lacks natural supports, the team should work with them to actively find ways to increase connections natural supports.

4. Collaboration:

FCFC was built on collaboration. Collaboration means team members work cooperatively and share responsibility for developing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating a single plan. The plan reflects a blending of team member’s perspectives, mandates, and resources. The plan guides and coordinates each team members’ work towards meeting the team’s goals.
All of the FCFC programs depend on collaboration with community partners and the FCFC Council is a collaborative group of child and family serving organizations that are working in partnership to improve community wide outcomes.

5. Community Based:

Those we serve should have access to services and supports that take place in the most inclusive, most responsive, most accessible, and least restrictive settings possible.
In Multi-system and HMG, the services need to safely promote child and family integration into home and community life. It should include places where other similar aged children and youth go and should support community connection for both youth and family.
Building Better Lives serves providers within the community in which they work and supports them in building relationship with their peers.
FCFC ensures services and meetings are held in the community and strives to support and partner with community-based organizations to provide contracted services.

6. Culturally Responsive:

FCFC demonstrates respect for the values, preferences, beliefs, culture, and identity of all those we serve. FCFC has a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and strives to provide continuous, ongoing learning opportunities for staff to learn and integrate DEI within their interactions with both those they serve and other staff

7. Individualized:

Individualized planning is unique to each person. Plans are not “one size fits all” but are developed based on the strengths, needs, resources and circumstances of the person. Several other principles support the individualized planning, including but not limited to voice and choice, natural supports, strengths and culture. Individualized planning can pertain to those we serve (Individualized Family Service Plans, Family Plans, Coaching Plans) as well as FCFC staff (professional development plans).

8. Strengths Based:

FCFC works to identify, build on, and enhance capabilities, knowledge, skills, and assets of the youth, families, service providers, staff, team members of those we serve and the community.

9. Unconditional:

Despite challenges, FCFC continues to work toward the outcomes, being persistent in providing interventions and revising plans if they are not helping the youth, family, service provider or others to successfully reach their outcome. Adversity is not viewed as a failure but an opportunity to try again with an updated or different plan and a commitment to continue working together until the team agrees there is not longer a need for the services or supports.

10. Outcome Based:

Our work contains observable or measurable indicators of success and the ability to monitor progress in terms of these indicators. Monitoring outcomes allows teams to regularly assess the effectiveness of the plan as a whole and to determine when the plan needs to be revised.

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“Neuroscience” (Brain-based Trauma-Informed Care)

All of our thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviors are controlled by our brain in some way.Our goal is to increase our understanding of brain science and apply basic concepts to our work.Everyone has a brain, of course, so that means applying concepts to our work with children andfamilies, parents and caregivers, coworkers and supervisors, and most importantly ourselves!The NeuroSequential Model is a way to frame and describe some basic concepts of brainscience. As a model, it is not meant to be an exact description, but some basic ideas areapplicable in nearly every situation.Two of the primary framing concepts include The Sequence of Engagement and the 6Rs.

The emergence of artificial intelligence

Regulate –> Relate –> Reason (the Sequence of Engagement)

The brain processes information and regulates from the bottom up. Therefore, everyone’s brainhas to be regulated first before building relationships and then getting to “reason.” For ourwork with children and families, this means that the first and most important step is to ensurethat everyone feels safe and regulated! Paying attention to movement, physical needs andspace, and overall safety are generally guidelines for regulation.Building safe relationships includes things like using familiar language and meeting clients andfamilies where they are (physically and emotionally). Co-regulation is an important step inestablishing safe relationships. Following the sequence of engagement typically leads tostronger relational connections.After ensuring that everyone is regulated and relationally safe, then our brains can fully reason.It might be hard to believe, but unless we follow the sequence of engagement, any “thinking”that we do will be less than optimal, unproductive, and quickly forgotten. It might seem to takemore time at first but saves time in the end!Following the sequence of engagement is important in our work with children and families, butalso important when we engage with coworkers and partners in the community. We can goterribly wrong if we try to start with Reason, but we can never go wrong starting withRegulation!

The 6Rs

The NeuroSequential Model describes how the brain is structured and functions. Applying theseconcepts to practical ways of structuring daily interactions can be summarized in the “6 Rs.”The more intentional we can be about including the 6 R’s in every interaction (education,training, therapy, family setting, preschool, courtroom, team meetings, etc.) the more “brain-friendly” it will be. Each of the 6R’s highlights a different aspect of how our brains regulate and develop.

Rhythm – Activities that are predictable, patterned, structured and include movement
Repetition – Activities that are repeated and practiced
Relationship – Activities that nurture safe and support relationships
Relevance – Activities that meet the developmental (not chronological) age of a person
Reward – Activities that are fun and that you want to do again
Respect – Activities that recognize and value the culture, values and beliefs of a person

Every individual regulates in different ways, and so the 6Rs can be adjusted and “fine-tuned” for each individual. Like ingredients in a recipe, there is no single perfect “formula,” but the 6Rs can be tailored to the preference of each person or family. The key is to be aware of how we are including the 6Rs in every interaction and learning experience.

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Resilience Factors

Franklin County Family & Children First Council defines resilience as the protective factors that counter act adversity. Resilience factors develop throughout life, in good times and bad. Before an adverse event or experience, and Skills of Resilience are (built?) learned and practiced by individuals and organizations in response to an adversity. The Skills of Resilience are like a “protection” that counter act the risks that endanger our health and well-being. They are learned, practiced, developed and taught toothers throughout life in nearly every situation and are a way to immediately start building a positive response to adversity. Although initially the 5 Skills of Resilience are applied to individuals, when we remember that communities and systems are made up of individuals, we see that these skills have potential for an even greater impact.

The Five Factors of Resilience are:

Connection to Community
Moments of Success
Sense of Hope
Perseverance
Self-Regulation

Connections to Community:

The connections we make to the wide range of people in our lives (family members, friends, teachers, coaches, mentors and neighbors) create a “Relational Web of Support” that we rely upon when we face adversity. Community may also include connections to diverse organizations, social causes, religious and cultural identity and expression, and even pride in one’s local neighborhood. The more connections, the stronger the support! Connections to Community includes identifying the natural supports of a family; increasing relationships with schools, teachers and community programs; increasing relationships amongst peers for children and adults. Community includes a sense of belonging and identity. When an individual is connected to community there is a mutual connection, reliance and relationship.

Moments of Success:

As we experience moments of success our view of ourselves and our community becomes more positive, leading to even more moments of success. When working with individuals, families and teams, we identify small steps of progress that move toward the final goal. Treatment plans and outcome measures are designed to reflect the successes and progress of individuals and teams. Professional development plans, organizational plans.

Sense of Hope:

Adversity is all around, but hope is the belief that things can and will change in the future. For staff, a sense of hope includes a connection to the mission and vision of the program, believing that the work we do is making a tangible difference in the lives of children and families. When working with clients, a sense of hope is interdependent upon connections to community and moments of success. Every instance of success provides hope for the future.
Community connections between service provider and client, teacher and student, treatment team and family are a significant source of hope for the future for all team members.
Data collection and reflection is another key to establishing a sense of hope. Identifying key metrics and reflecting on past successes give fuel for believing in future progress.

Perseverance:

Adversity and its effects don’t disappear right away. Perseverance is the skill we use to keep on fighting. Individuals and families oftentimes have to persevere time and time again. Our role is to point out past examples so that when faced with that "Next Challenge" they can activate the ability to keep moving forward.
For staff, working with children and families that are in high need can be very challenging and overwhelming. As an agency, we support one another and persevere together. An important part of teamwork is building our own resiliency through integrated practices, regular supports and policies that build perseverance.

Self-Regulation:

Self-regulation is the “glue” that holds all the other Resilience Factors together and is the skill we have to rely upon most frequently every day. It is the ability to choose a healthy response to stress in the moment. As individuals learn and practice self-regulation they are able to respond to stress in an adaptive and appropriate way. As families learn coregulation skills, the bonds of relationship and attachment increase. Learning, practicing and supporting self-regulation is foundational for every interaction with clients and families.
Staff members also develop appropriate self-regulation skills throughout the work environment in order to support themselves and the people they work with. Moments for self-regulation and co-regulation are part of team meetings, supervision and the office environment.

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We offer a framework where equity is braided into the core fabric of all of this agency’s work. At Franklin County Family and Children First Council (FC3) this commitment manifests through intentional recruitment, staff development, and advocacy for the systems we collaborate with as well as the families and children we serve. Essential components of equity include diversity and inclusion which serve as tools aimed toward the ultimate goal of an authentically just society.FC3 is on a journey to pursue equity with humility. Through ongoing professional learning in support of both personal and collective growth, we are an evolving organization. Our efforts aspire toward embedding equity at the center of all aspects of the agency’s efforts.

Definitions and Shared Language

Equity:

Every person receives whatever they need to develop their full human potential and to thrive, every day (Adapted from Elena Aguilar).

We believe:

Human potential is inclusive of academic, social, emotional, professional, and interpersonal dimensions.
Equity is when systematic barriers have been bridged and dismantled.
Equity is not impartial.
Access is providing opportunity to overcome barriers to provide intentionally designed opportunities, networks, resources, and supports for individuals furthest from opportunity.
Justice is when systemic barriers have been removed.

(Shipow & Singh, 2020)

Image Disclaimer: Using a bent tree as a metaphor for inequality suggests that today’s staggering levels of inequality are at some level natural and to be expected, however we understand there is nothing accidental about today’s in equality, it is a reflection of intentional systems of oppression established in the past that continue today.

Opportunity: Closing the gaps by reducing/eliminating the barriers (Pittman, 2017).
Access: The skillsets, mindsets, and content knowledge necessary to take advantage of opportunities once barriers are removed (Pittman, 2017).
Justice: Fixing the system to offer equal access to both tools and opportunities (Shipow & Singh, 2020).
Inclusion: Authentically bringing traditionally excluded individuals and/or groups into processes, activities, and decision/policy making in a way that shares power (racialequitytools.com).
Diversity: Diversity is the representation of, and respect for, people from different backgrounds and identities—including but not limited to race, culture, religion, socio-economic status, age, geographic area, sexual orientation and gender identification, language, learning style and physical appearance. It involves bringing different ideas, perspectives, lived experiences, talents, values and worldviews to the table to represent the broad variety of children, caregivers, educators and communities (adapted from PTA 2020).
Intersectionality: Individuals have individual identities that intersect in ways that impact how they are viewed, understood, and treated (Crenshaw, 2019).

How equity is operationalized within FC3

FC3 strives to bring this equity pillar in all aspects of our work both internally and externally, including in collaboration with partners, training, performance evaluations, services offered, and all those we work alongside.

Additional Equity Resources

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