Intervention Unit

The Intervention Unit's purpose is to intervene in the lives of children and families by establishing a team of staff, family and support members, and service providers to realize a safe nurturing environment for children.

Cases are assigned within the Intervention Unit after an investigation/assessment by the Assessment Unit has determined that the children have been or are at risk of being abused or neglected.

The primary goal of the Intervention Unit is to work towards keeping families together or reuniting families that have been separated. In an effort to shift the family towards being able to provide a more stable, safe, and nurturing environment, a case plan is developed by working closely with the family and support persons/service providers.

This case plan is intended to address the initial concerns of the abuse or neglect, to provide for needed wrap-around services, and to outline the desired behaviors as a guide for families to follow. Should these desired behaviors be demonstrated by the family, the expectation is that the potential for abuse and neglect will be reduced and/or eliminated. The Intervention Worker provides support to the family throughout the process by meeting with them in their own home and continuing to monitor child safety and risk factors.

The Intervention Worker is also responsible for finding necessary services to eliminate any barriers that might hinder the family in accomplishing the tasks of their case plan. Regular meetings are held, every 90 days at a minimum, with the entire team to ensure that the right supports are in place, that the goals are being accomplished, and to make any necessary adjustments to the case plan in order to help the family achieve success.

Muskingum County Adult and Child Protective Services provides supervised visitation for families of children in agency custody and as needed for kinship custody cases. Visitation occurs at various times throughout the day until 6pm. The frequency of visits is based on case plan requirements to facilitate reunification of the child with family. The agency has seven visitation rooms equipped with video cameras. Visitation sessions are supervised by Visitation and Social Service Aides and can be recorded as needed for security or training purposes. Visitation between children in placement and their families serves many purposes and the goal is usually reunification. Other purposes of visitation include determining family needs, improving family parenting skills (with MCACPS staff observing to provide training techniques, etc.), and to transitioning responsibility for the children back to the families.