INSPIRATION

Jim Roberts, founder of Family Care Network, Inc., provides a tour of the unfinished conference room.

FAMILY CARE NETWORK GROWS UP

After 15 years, Jim Roberts had seen enough. Through his various roles in juvenile probation it became clear that the system was failing. “I had a goal,” he remembers, “I wanted to create a non-profit that offered therapeutic foster care.”

Fast-forward 26 years and San Luis Obispobased Family Care Network, Inc. (FCNI) has 170 employees who administer 18 different programs to 2,000 individuals on the Central Coast. And, starting October 17th, those employees will be boxing up their things as they move into their brand new 26,000 square foot facility off Broad Street, just east of the airport. At the time Roberts was casting around looking for support for his idea, therapeutic foster care was a foreign concept in California. Although the idea is relatively simple, the results are dramatic. For example, since the year 2000, FCNI has reduced group home placement in San Luis Obispo County by an astounding 75%. And, that is the primary goal of therapeutic foster care—to maintain and unify families. Roberts likes to refer to the concept, which has now become mainstream, as “healing families.” The secret sauce in therapeutic foster care has to do with the training that is provided to foster families. Those who are on the front lines with their foster children receive coaching along with ongoing support from counselors at FCNI. This model provides tools to the foster family so that they can be successful in creating a stable, nurturing home environment for a child—which, eventually, leads to the development of a successful, productive adult. This formula also yields a significant financial savings to the county over institutional care—which Roberts learned during his time in probation, did not produce great outcomes and did so at a high cost. Success for FCNI means reunifying children with their family, finding permanent families for children needing stability, helping a struggling youth successfully become independent and self-sufficient, and preventing children from being removed from their homes or placed in institutional/group care by stabilizing their behaviors so they can resume a healthier life. ”

As a non-profit with a $13 million annual operating budget, money is always tight. And, one of the largest expenses over the years has been the rent FCNI has paid for its office space. Every year, like clockwork, the rent went up and there did not seem to be an end in sight. “Among other things, we saw owning our building as a hedge against the rising cost of rent,” explains Roberts. FCNI was able to pull together $1.3 million of the $4.7 million investment. Their new monthly mortgage payment will be approximately $20,000 less per year than what they had been paying in rent— most importantly, the cost will now remain fixed. The building is also expected to provide significant utilities savings with the addition of simple features such as opening windows and ample insulation. But, it is the massive 4,300 square foot conference room that will serve as the actual, as well as metaphorical, heart of the building. As training foster families is the focal point of FCNI’s operations, the staff and services that support that effort will be oriented around the conference room much likes cogs in a wheel. Or, as the FCNI tagline explains it, “A Circle of Serving.” Roberts is fond of the terminology “wrap around,” as in, “the families are ‘wrapped around’ with clinical and in-home staff and 24-7 emergency support.” However it is described— the full-service, full-time support and training provided to Central Coast foster families is fundamental to FCNI’s 89% success rate. And, 26 years ago, when Roberts closed his eyes and imagined his wildest dreams, he could see a physical manifestation of the hard work and dedicated effort—a totally self-contained family support center—a building that now rests on a bucolic two-and-half acre campus at the edge of town. SLO LIFE Those interested in supporting FCNI should visit www.fcni.org or call (805) 781-3535.