EMPOWER, a child welfare collaborative in Irving, Texas, led by Texas Family Initiative (TFI Texas) and supported by four leading Texas child welfare organizations, is pleased to announce it has been awarded the Community-Based Care (CBC) contract in Metroplex East—a nine-county region which includes Dallas and surrounding communities. DFPS Metroplex East is the fifth region in Texas to transition to CBC services.
CBC provides a framework for EMPOWER to draw on local community resources to find innovative ways to meet the unique individual needs of children and their families involved with the child welfare system. EMPOWER will oversee foster care, case management, kinship, and reunification services.
EMPOWER will partner with the community to establish a network of service and placement providers to improve the overall well-being of children in foster care and keep them closer to home and connected to their communities and families.
“We are extremely excited to partner with DFPS in Metroplex East,” said TFI Texas Senior Vice President, Linda Garcia, PhD. “EMPOWER looks forward to working with all of the current providers, stakeholders and foster families to provide the best quality services for children and families in our community.”
Due to this expansion of services, EMPOWER is looking for dedicated professionals to join the EMPOWER team. EMPOWER offers a positive work environment with a focus on upward mobility for staff. If you are interested in joining a group of professionals committed to strengthening children and families, please visit us online at www.3empower.org.
EMPOWER consists of the following organizations:
- Texas Family Initiative has a long successful history providing case management, adoption, residential treatment, behavioral health, and independent living services in Texas, and transforming the state’s child welfare system as a Single Source Continuum Contractor for CBC.
- CK Family Services, founded in Region 3, has served the children and families of Texas for more than two decades. They provide behavioral health services, treatment foster care, professional home-based care, traditional foster care, adoption, post adoption, and family assessment services in Region and across the state.
- Jonathan’s Place For 31 years, Jonathan’s Place has cared for the abused, abandoned, and neglected children, teens, and young adults in in the Dallas Metroplex. Jonathan’s Place offers a continuum of care by way of seven programs, which address the vital needs of children and young adults ages newborn to 23: The Emergency Shelter, Girls Residential Therapeutic program, RESET Sex Trafficking program, new-Stabilization and Assessment Center, Therapeutic & Treatment Foster Care and Adoption program, Transitional Living program, and Safe Place runaway prevention program.
- The Bair Foundation The Bair Foundation is a leading national treatment foster care provider in 9 states. For over 50 years, they have provided prevention, traditional foster care, therapeutic foster care, treatment foster care, adoption, kinship and behavioral health services for over 250,000 children. They are located in Dallas and throughout the state providing hope, stability and support to families in crisis.
- Pathways Youth and Family Services Pathways seeks to transform the lives of individuals and families it serves and, in turn, transform the communities where people live and raise their families. For more than 30 years, Pathways has provided foster care and adoption service, residential care, and behavioral health services to thousands of children and families across Texas. Pathways has offices in Dallas, Abilene, Austin, Houston, Kerrville, Mountain Home, and San Antonio.
Through its partnership with DFPS, EMPOWER is committed to serving every child, youth and family member in its care, so they may realize safety, permanency and overall wellbeing.
