Program Description

Cayuga Home for Children’s Multi-Dimensional Treatment: Foster Care Program, Auburn, New York

Overview

The Cayuga Home for Children in Auburn, New York, was the first provider in New York State to offer Multi-Dimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) to youth and is one of only several certified MTFC programs in the country. The MTFC model, developed by the Oregon Social Learning Center in 1983, serves as an alternative to group or residential placement, incarceration, and hospitalization for adolescents who have problems with chronic antisocial behavior, emotional disturbance, and delinquency. The goal of the program is to implement an intervention that provides corrective or therapeutic parenting to adolescents to reduce antisocial behavior, delinquency, and emotional disturbance.

The MTFC program operated by the Cayuga Home for Children serves youth age 11–17 who are in the custody of their local department of social services or the state Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS). The program serves youth who are in detention; at risk of placement within the state’s juvenile correctional system; in temporary placements; or returning home from a correctional placement. Youth appropriate for the program include:

• Serious and chronic juvenile offenders;
• Seriously emotionally disturbed youth;
• Youth with an IQ in the borderline range who do not do well in congregate settings;
• Youth who have been unsuccessful in other placements; and
• Youth needing highly structured, individualized treatment.

MTFC host families serve as foster families for youth in the program. Host families undergo intensive training that emphasizes behavior management methods to provide youth with a structured and therapeutic setting. After completing the pre-service training and placement of youth, MTFC families attend weekly group meetings run by the program coordinator where ongoing supervision is provided. Supervision and support is also provided to MTFC parents during daily telephone calls to check on youth progress and potential problems.

While in the placement, youth participate in a structured daily behavior modification program implemented within the MTFC home. Individual therapy is also provided weekly to youth. School attendance, behavior, and homework completion are closely monitored, and interventions are introduced as needed for youth in school. Youth in the program also receive skill-focused individual treatment by a skills trainer on a weekly basis. Family therapy is provided to the youth’s biological (or adoptive) family, with the ultimate goal of returning the youth back to the home. Parents are taught to use the same structured system being taught in the MTFC home. Closely supervised home visits are conducted throughout the youth’s placement in MTFC. Parents are encouraged to have frequent contact with the MTFC program coordinator to get information about their child’s progress in the program. Youth stay in an MTFC home for 6–12 months.

Reference

Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care Program. Cayuga Home for Children. Retrieved from http://www.cayugahome.org/content/mtfc.htm

Program Contact

Lisa Emmons
Director of MTFC
Cayuga Home for Children
101 Hamilton Avenue
Auburn, NY 13021
Phone: 315-253-5383