Like a good marriage, both parties benefit when there’s a “match made in heaven.” In the case of the recent mergers of two vital social service agencies on Oahu and our Neighbor Islands with Child & Family Service, the winners are the people served by these agencies.

Child & Family Service (CFS) is Hawaii’s oldest and most comprehensive private nonprofit human service organization. Each year CFS impacts the lives of 40,000 people throughout the state. Founded in 1899, CFS addresses the most serious life issues affecting Hawaii families and has programs in domestic violence, child abuse, foster care, employment readiness, refugee assistance, Healthy Start, Head Start, sex abuse prevention and treatment, crisis counseling, school dropout prevention and others. CFS Gerontology Programs also serve more than 1,000 elderly individuals and their families through caregiver support, case management and wellness programs.

CFS provides hope to those we serve. The commitment to care of CFS professionals gives our clients the courage to change. Now we are proud that over the past few months we have expanded the CFS family to include two valued partners: The Institute for Family Enrichment with programs on Oahu, the Big Island, Maui and Kauai; and Neighborhood Place of Wailuku on Maui.

The Institute for Family Enrichment (TIFFE) was formed 30 years ago to provide innovative responses to the needs of families and children in Hawaii. TIFFE and Child & Family Service share compatible missions and programs that will serve to strengthen both organizations. For example, CFS offers trauma informed care training and TIFFE has an exceptional professional training program. Together these will strengthen professional development for all levels of service providers.

TIFFE and CFS provide behavioral health services. The levels of service vary between organizations, allowing both to refer clients between programs according to the level of care needed, ultimately increasing the continuum of care offered to clients. TIFFE community and home-based services are now a bridge for CFS clients as they transition out of the higher level of care offered by CFS.

Like Child & Family Service, TIFFE services are evidence-based, meaning that they are based on clinical trials, which provides the greatest chance of improving the health and well-being of family members. Blending the strengths of TIFFE into CFS creates an organization that provides a maximum mix of outcome-driven programs that make the most impact on lives while building a continuum of services without duplication.
In addition, both TIFFE and CFS have staff members who serve together on the Hawaii Children’s Trust Fund Board and share a commitment to the creative development of new ideas for care into the community.

Child & Family Service also recently expanded its programming on Maui to include the native Hawaiian programs offered to the Wailuku/Happy Valley community by Neighborhood Place of Wailuku (NPW). CFS has an excellent reputation for providing family strengthening services. NPW programs are renowned on Maui for their inclusion of relevant Hawaiian values that are incorporated into real life practices.

NPW provides a full range of services based on the native Hawaiian culture for keiki to kūpuna. These include: “talk-story” counseling, family conferencing, information, referral and linkages to other community resources, parenting classes, cultural programs, educational classes, support groups, wellness programs, child development classes and a youth leadership program.

One of the key programs of the Neighborhood Place is a native Hawaiian cultural values and practices program called “Kamalama” (The Light). It is a ten-week course designed to break the cycle of violence and drugs through the wisdom of Hawaiian culture. This program teaches how to care for children based on traditional Hawaiian values; how to discipline children with love and dignity; and how to speak to children in a way that cherishes them and lifts them up.

Neighborhood Place of Wailuku programs, like CFS initiatives, are based on meeting the needs of the total family. Our family centers are neighborhood centers, where case workers can assess not only the physical needs of the individual, but also their emotional needs and related issues of other family members. Both Neighborhood Place of Wailuku and CFS focus their philosophy of service delivery on building relationships, building trust and creating a place of hope for Hawaii families.

Through the addition of The Institute for Family Enrichment and Neighborhood Place of Wailuku, Child & Family Service is modeling the way of the future, combining staff and programs, coming together to achieve a mutual mission, thereby strengthening itself as one entity for the greater good of children and families.

In this case, bigger is better.

About the author: Howard Garval has been President and CEO of Child & Family Service since 2006. Howard is responsible for setting the vision and guiding the mission of the organization, on behalf of Hawai`i’s families — children, youth, and kūpuna. Howard serves on the national board of the Executive Leadership Institute Alumni Connections, is chairman of the board of PHOCUSED (Protecting Hawai’i’s Ohana: Children, Under Served, Elderly and Disabled), serves on the Oahu Workforce Investment Board and chairs the advisory board of the Hawaii Family Support Institute.

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