Permanency & Well-Being

Southwest Human Development provides a full spectrum of services designed to give children who are involved with Child Protective Services (CPS) and their families or caregivers the support, counseling, and resources critical to the children's well-being. The following programs are provided by Southwest:

Kinship Care, Adoptive and Guardianship Home Studies - Assists families seeking to provide homes for relatives’ children in Maricopa County who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. Services include relative and adoptive home studies, annual guardianship reports, and brief family support.

Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) Case Management, Adoption, and Foster Care Licensing – Consists of home studies, adoption studies, and foster care licensing studies for families in Maricopa County seeking to provide care for relatives’ children, from across the United States or from other countries, who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. Foster care training and kinship support groups are offered. If the children are placed with these relatives, ongoing family support and placement supervision are provided until the children are adopted or reach adulthood.

Direct Support Services - Includes in-home and community-based family support for families with a child (0-18) who has a behavioral health diagnosis. Services include parenting skills training, family support, behavior coaching, and social skills training.

Family Preservation Program - Offers intensive, short-term in-home support and counseling to families referred by Child Protective Services to resolve concerns related to child abuse or neglect and to safely maintain the children in their homes. 

S.E.N.S.E. - Developed in collaboration with CPS and TERROS, Southwest's Substance Exposed Newborns Safe Environment (S.E.N.S.E.) Program includes a coordinated system of care for substance exposed newborns and their families. This comprehensive program allows all agencies to share information, develop one comprehensive service plan, coordinate treatment schedules, and regularly share ongoing family progress. The greatest emphasis is on the vulnerable infant, but the program also strives to preserve the family and treat the mother's drug or alcohol addiction. S.E.N.S.E. is a model program statewide.

Parent Aide - Provides parenting education, home management skills, supervised visitation between children and parents, and family support to parents whose children have been removed from their care by Child Protective Services, to assist the parents in resolving child safety concerns in the home. 

Family Reunification Program - Offers short-term, intensive family support and counseling to families referred by Child Protective Services who have a child returning to their home after an out-of-home placement. The program goal is to ensure a successful reunification of the child with the family.

For additional information on the above programs please contact Suzanne Schunk at
(602) 224-1744, or sschunk@swhd.org.