Charlottesville/Albemarle Community Practice Model

The local Comprehensive Services Act (CSA) system is driven by the vision, mission, and values of the community practice model.

The community practice model was drawn from System of Care Values and Principles and the Virginia Children's Services Transformation: CORE Practice Model.

Our service community is committed to the continual development of the community practice model, and to aligning infrastructure and available resources to support it.

Child-Specific Family Teams

One way to implement the community practice model is by creating child-specific, family teams which meet face-to-face to conduct transition planning, community-based service planning, planning for FAPT meetings or court hearings, and monitoring of progress. Child-specific, family teams are made up of the focal youth, parents/guardians, family-identified support persons, and all the services providers involved, including all case managers and appropriate school personnel/representation.

Child-specific family teams should be formed when:

• Child/family problems are complex or multifaceted
• There are multiple service providers involved
• When beginning to plan to transition a child from a residential facility back to a community-based family setting
• When a road-block is reached
• When there is a crisis
• When there is a problem needing a creative solution
• When a family member or service provider requests it

The guides below provide suggestions for how to organize and structure team meetings.