Nazareth Child and Family Connection has been a vital member to Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) partnership since 2012. While they offer amazing services to the children and family involved in the project, Nazareth is also a huge contributor to innovative and best practice in and around their community. Nazareth was founded in 1906 and has since continued to provide an array of services to meet the needs of children and families located in Rowan and Davidson Counties. Their service continuum includes foster family care, adoptions, transitional living services for young adults, level II therapeutic residential, short team care, individual and group therapy, psychiatric services as well as outpatient substance use therapy. The decision to partner with Nazareth in Rowan and Davidson County was easy because of their established history and commitment to serving and empowering child welfare involved youth and families.
Jacqueline Millican Crabb is the Director of Licensing and Program Development at Nazareth, where she has served since 1999. In addition, she provides clinical coaching to PFE clinicians who offer Benchmarks’ Trauma-intensive Comprehensive Clinical Assessments. The commitment to being trauma-informed extends beyond the PFE project as Jacque shares how Nazareth incorporates these practices in everyday work. “Nazareth is certified in the sanctuary model which at it’s core is trauma-informed. We train all of our staff, no matter the position, on vicarious trauma and place emphasis on self-care and building self-care into our workday.”
In September, North Carolina will begin implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA), “the most sweeping legislation to impact federal child welfare financing and programs in decades (www.ncdhhs.cov).” Part of Nazareth’s response to this legislation has been a focus on providing assessments and psychoeducation for youth who have experienced or are at risk of human trafficking. They began screening children 10 and up on the commercial sexual exploitation-identification tool (cse-it), almost 2 years ago. In a recent assessment of the residents of their group home, 43% scored as “probable concern” for the risk of human trafficking. Currently, Nazareth has one of their Case Managers attending the “Not a Number” child trafficking and exploitation prevention curriculum training in Atlanta to bring back additional evidence-based resources to support clients who are at-risk.
In addition to FFPSA, provider agencies are navigating the transition of Medicaid to a managed care structure. At Nazareth, they are currently paneled with four of the five new Prepaid Health Plans participating in Medicaid managed care and are finalizing the fifth contract. This is especially important as Jacque shares, to ensure continuity for clients in the outpatient program. By remaining committed to their client’s best interest, Nazareth continues to live up to their mission of providing the “highest quality of services with a commitment to excellence while empowering youth and families in developing solutions that ensure successful outcomes” especially in a period of new legislation and transformation.
Benchmarks’ is thankful for the spirit of excellence in partnership and dedication to empowering youth and families demonstrated by Nazareth Child and Family Connection!
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