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Table of Content

• What are some of the rewarding experiences Sandy and Angela have experienced?
• Multi-System Youth
• What are some of the requirements for me to become a foster parent? Do I need to have a job? Do I need to be married?
• Koinonia’s Day Treatment History
• How to Connect with Koinonia
• What does treatment level foster care mean?
• How is Koinonia Foster Homes funded? What financially do the foster parents receive? How is health care for the child provided?
• We utilize a Trauma-Informed Care Approach

In addition to therapeutic services, behavioral training and reinforcement, children are taught life skills such as age-appropriate grooming, self-responsibility, job skills, and educational skills. They are also provided recreational therapy opportunities which enhance perseverance, cooperation, team work, and resilience. All of these things combine to create a therapeutic environment which allows the children to grow into thriving young adults. Since then Koinonia has served the Nevada community helping over 1000 specialized foster children. In 2006 Koinonia Foster Homes changed our company name to Koinonia Family Services, to better represent the other services our agency provides. In Nevada, you may run into both names…”Koinonia Foster Homes” and “Koinonia Family Services,” as we want to be sure we keep the great need for foster homes in front of the public eye.

Our contract is through DCFS and Washoe County and we have a contracted rate they pay us. Some of the money that is allocated to foster care trickles down through the federal government, to the state, and then down to the county. During your 40 hours of training, you will learn the resources and skills needed to safely foster a child. Nurse Manager Stacey Wolfe discusses the valuable role of Direct Support Professionals and why they are essential in enhancing the lives of people with developmental disabilities. Attend a 40-hour pre-licensure training program taught by the Koinonia staff. Specific necessities and preferences, whether they need drop-in support or 24-hour assistance.

What are some of the rewarding experiences Sandy and Angela have experienced?

Individuals choose where to live and assert responsibility by paying their living expenses. When becoming a Specialized Foster Parent with Koinonia, you are required to meet all the requirements as well as 40 hours of in-house training with our highly trained staff. Water Safety Training is necessary if there is a body of water such as a pool, spa or pond on the property, or if the children swim in an area where there is no lifeguard on duty.

Ultimately you are supposed to have an income coming into your home that’s not just the foster income, and again, that’s a conversation with people. Not everyone works out of the home, and in fact a lot of our parents don’t work, but there might be a second partner in the home. We proudly offer safe and reliable non-medical transportation for people who have developmental disabilities and other complex medical conditions. We follow COVID-19 guidelines to ensure the health and safety of all passengers, including cleaning and disinfecting between each route and at the end of each day. At Koinonia Enterprises, we offer facility-based programs such as adult day services, vocational habilitation services, community programming, in-home programming, and virtual programming.

Multi-System Youth

We work hard to be the best support we can be so foster families can make their best difference in the lives of these most vulnerable children. Our service portfolio includes 20 licensed group homes, over 50 supported living arrangements, transportation services, and shared living options, all provided in safe and healthy settings. We offer 24/7 care and drop-in residential options, as well as assistance to adults and youth transitioning from school to the working world. The goal of Day Treatment is to address emotional, cognitive, and behavioral issues in a milieu setting. The children receive services in the milieu in addition to individual and group therapy. The children’s caregivers are also involved in the program and are kept well-informed of the therapeutic topics addressed so they can play an active role in the children’s progress.

In Nevada, Koinonia’s programs include “treatment level” Specialized Foster Care, Day Treatment , and Outpatient Therapy. Serving since 1994 in the Nevada foster home community, Koinonia has served children in need of loving and dedicated foster homes. Our children have complex trauma which might include sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, and many times all of the above. Over the years, Koinonia has grown and now offers many services to children, youth and their families. The Child Welfare agencies refer children who qualify for Specialized Foster Care to private providers like Koinonia for placement in a program that will best meet their needs. When Koinonia receives a call for placement of a child, our staff and the placing agency assess their needs to determine the most appropriate specialized foster home or treatment program.

What are some of the requirements for me to become a foster parent? Do I need to have a job? Do I need to be married?

The reason we don’t do it quickly is because we want the information to ingest. More than the information being ingested, it’s the relationship we’re building. A lot of it happens after the placement of your first child and then we go back and say, “Do you remember when we talked about this? Even staff will tell us, about two weeks after they’re hired, they say, “I’ve never worked in a place like this. It’s just a different environment, where we take the relationships very seriously, and we take the family relationship, the idea of being a family, that we’re here together; one thing we say to each other on a regular basis is “what was our agreement?

In addition to therapeutic services, behavioral training and reinforcement, clients are also taught life skills such as age-appropriate grooming, self-responsibility, job skills, and educational skills. Clients are also provided recreational therapy opportunities which enhance perseverance, cooperation, team work, and resilience. All of these things combine to create a therapeutic environment which allows the youth to grow into thriving young adults. Koinonia in Northern Nevada offers a Day Treatment Program serving both preadolescent and adolescent youth.Preadolescent Day Treatment, established in 2001, serves younger children, ages 6 to 13.

Once you have completed the interview process, and have been determined to be a good match with Koinonia, we will start the process of getting you through the required 40 hours of pre-licensure training. Foster Care is taking a child, or maybe even more than one child, into your home. Koinonia serves “treatment” level children who tend to have been exposed to more severe trauma. Our children, due to the trauma they have experienced, require predictability and structure in the home to allow them to grow and thrive.

This Day Treatment, which includes the milieu of a school, serves children with a diagnosis of PTSD, many of whom have been sexualized or in other ways have experienced significant and complex trauma. Adolescent Day Treatment, established in 2003, serves older youth, ages 12 to 18. These youth have tended to struggle in many other environments and yet they are now able to find success in the highly structured environment of Adolescent Day Treatment. The hallmark of both programs is the use of evidence-based treatment models carried out by exceptionally engaged and committed staff. Both of our Day Treatment programs are well known for excellence and are highly acclaimed throughout our community, including Preadolescent Day Treatment having received the Child Abuse & Neglect Task Force Recognition Award in the category of Best Program. Koinonia is here to support foster parents, the children who live with them, and the teams who serve the children.

There are a lot of factors because ultimately, you’re not only looking for a safe placement, you’re looking for a great placement. The Preadolescent Day Treatment operates on a point and level system, which gives the children a clear definition of desired and undesired behaviors. Part of what makes the Preadolescent Day Treatment successful is the caregivers’ participation in the child’s progress. Not only do the children receive feedback while in the program, they also receive feedback at home, which provides consistency and reinforcement for their behaviors. Koinonia’s respite care services offer provisional assistance for families and unpaid providers in need of planned respite and emergency placements for their loved ones.

No matter how you partner with Koinonia Foster Homes & Family Services in Nevada, you will be making a difference in the lives of very special children in our local area. The program provides the best therapeutic environment to ensure change and therapeutic progress within each of its clients. All of our kids in foster care receive Medicaid, and frankly, it’s amazing insurance. Koinonia’s Adolescent Day Treatment is a therapeutic milieu serving children ages 12 to 18 who have experienced severe trauma. Its purpose is to help integrate its youth back into the community as independent and successful members of society.