Family Support & Child Welfare Services

Supporting caregivers throughout the joys and struggles of raising their children

Southwest Human Development offers an array of education and support services for families to help parents and caregivers as they raise their children. We believe that all caregivers have the desire to improve their parenting skills and behaviors, while promoting positive parent-child interactions, enhancing their child’s health and development, and increasing their family’s economic well-being.

Family Support and Parenting Education Programs

Southwest Human Development offers programs that provide parenting support and education so that parents and caregivers can best give their children the care and nurturing they need to thrive.

• • Direct Support Services: A program for families with a child (ages birth to 18) who has a behavioral health diagnosis. Provided in the family’s home, at school or at another community location, services include family support, parenting skills training, behavior coaching and social skills training.

• • Foster Care and Adoption Studies: Assists families seeking to provide homes for children who have been removed from their parents due to abuse or neglect. Services include training, foster care licensing, adoption certification, and placement supervision and support. Private adoption home studies are also available.

• • Healthy Families: An evidence-based home visitation program that supports pregnant women and families with newborns to promote child health and development, enhance parent-child relationships, improve school readiness and increase family self-sufficiency.

• • Parent Partners Plus: This program helps families connect with free home visitation programs for expecting parents or families with a child age 0-5 living within Maricopa County.

Child Welfare Programs

Southwest Human Development provides many services designed to give children and their parents/caregivers who are involved with the Department of Child Safety (or out-of-state child welfare organizations) the counseling and support that is critical to the children’s well-being. Emphasis is placed on increasing the family’s protective factors to improve their ability to provide for the safety and well-being of their children.

• • Substance-Exposed Newborn Safe Environment Program – “SENSE Program”: A specialized component of our Family Preservation program, SENSE is a comprehensive, coordinated treatment program for families with substance-exposed newborns to effectively address the needs of the baby as well as the substance abuse by the mother or parents.

• • Kinship Care and Adoptions: Children who have been abused or neglected often must be removed from their homes and placed in the care and custody of the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS). Arizona recognizes and emphasizes the importance and benefits of these children being able to live with relatives or others important to them. In order to support DCS in its efforts, the Kinship Care and Adoptions team at Southwest Human Development is contracted with DCS to provide home study assessments and courtesy supervision services for these families.