In Nebraska, Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. provided an array of mental health services to children and families of various private and public insurance carriers. The agency also served as a sub-contractor for Family Networks, providing therapeutic wraparound services for families and children. Their services included in-home counseling, family support, case management, crisis intervention, group therapy, and support for foster families and group homes. While providing services in Nebraska, Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. was a certified General Education Diploma (GED) training site and provided counseling services to the U.S. Marshall’s Secret Witness Program. Additionally, Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. provided therapeutic transportation services for the State of Nebraska Retired Teachers Association, the Des Moines, Iowa Mass Transit Authority, Nebraska Department ofAging and several private school systems.

In 1993, Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. relocated to Alabama and established services under contract and vendor agreements with county child welfare offices to provide in-home family preservation services for families with children at risk of entering foster care. Their services included in-home substance abuse prevention services, psychological testing, psychiatric evaluations, therapeutic transportation, psychosocial family assessments and treatment plans, individual and family counseling, respite care, behavior management, job placement, job coaching, parenting skills training, supervised family visitations, and introducing and connecting consumers to existing community resources.

In addition to Family Preservation Services, Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. was licensed as a child-placing agency in 1995. The agency’s commitment to service delivery is evidenced by its expansion of services nationwide. Seraaj Family Homes Inc. established regional offices in several Alabama cities including Montgomery, Huntsville, Gadsden, Cullman, Oxford, and Birmingham. There are also regional offices in Washington D.C. and the state of Maryland. From these locations, the agency provided therapeutic foster care, specialized foster care such as teen mothers and their young children, crisis stabilization for those who are coming into care for the first time, placement for children who are diagnosed medically fragile and placement of children with developmental disorders as well as enhanced sibling groups (4 or more siblings).

Also, in the District of Columbia, Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. has contracts with health maintenance organizations (HMO’s) to provide outpatient mental health services for consultation, assessment and treatment services, including individual, group and family therapy.

Since 1995, the organization has recruited and approved 999 foster homes. 37% of the families licensed were two parent homes and 63% were single heads of households. Since 1998 Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. has served 1,913 children of which 70% were in therapeutic foster care placements, 20% were in traditional foster care placements and 10% were placed through other programs operated by Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. The agency has accepted into care 435 children from intensive residential treatment or congregate care facilities.

In addition to receiving oversight from governmental regulatory and legal authorities in Alabama, Washington DC and Maryland, Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. has received accreditation from the Council on Accreditation (COA). In doing so, the agency is held to the highest standards of accountability, integrity and achievement in all levels of performance and service delivery with emphasis on continuous quality improvement.

* Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. established a data base for tracking levels of care in 1998.