DPSS Annual Report 24_25 FLIP v16_compressed

Children’s Services Division

IT TAKES A VILLAGE: Building Enhanced Homes for Youth Who Need More Services and Supports

A pre-teen boy who regularly greeted his child welfare workers with long bursts of profanity now appears in photos smil ing beside his teacher, proudly holding a school award. The youth, once strug gling with unmet behavior and mental health needs, had cycled through mul tiple foster placements before landing in a home prepared to provide the level of care he required. That match, said Bridgette Hernandez, assistant director of Riverside County Children’s Services, is what Enhanced Intensive Services Foster Care (ISFC) is designed to make possible. Hernandez explained that the Enhanced Services Program is a level of place ment within the broader continuum of care, added to expand available options for children and youth with higher‑lev el needs. She noted that while it is also part of the Children’s Crisis Continuum Program (CCCP), its purpose extends beyond crisis services by strengthening the overall continuum and increasing

placement capacity as more Enhanced ISFC providers become available. The goal is to keep youth in home-based settings with the right levels of support rather than moving them into congre gate care settings or higher-level treat ment facilities. Hernandez described Riverside County’s continuum of care as beginning with prevention and kin ship care, followed by homebased care, treatment level foster homes and only when necessary Short Term Residential Therapeutic Programs or psychiatric fa cilities. Enhanced ISFC falls within the treatment level tier and serves youth whose needs exceed what traditional foster homes can provide. These placements pair spe cially trained caregivers with intensive support such as specialty mental health services, increased supervision, ther apeutic interventions and structured behavior modification programs. The goal is to stabilize youth in a family en

vironment and prevent movement into STRTPs or other high-level settings. Riverside County youth who may qualify for Enhanced ISFC are often identified during higher level care discussions with state partners, technical assistance calls and Child and Family Team Meetings. When a need emerges, county staff work with Enhanced ISFC providers to determine whether a home can be de veloped or matched. The formerly cussing boy with unmet behavioral needs is a reminder of what is possible when providers embrace a no eject, no-reject philosophy and commit to a child, Hernandez said. “It took time, patience and a village,” she said. “But because everyone showed up for him, he has stayed in a family home, received the specialty services he need ed and is now doing incredibly well.”

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Riverside County Department of Public Social Services | Annual Report 2024 - 2025