Project Connect

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Through Project Connect, Children's Friend helps keep children safe and keep families together. Project Connect provides home-based services for families identified by the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF).

Project Connect is the only program in the state that works with DCYF to keep children safe and strengthen families by helping parents achieve a substance-free lifestyle. The program is intensive, home-based, and provides services for an average of one year. The Project Connect staff is specially trained in substance abuse and child welfare risk assessment.

Project Connect provides individualized services for families, including:

• Intensive home-based services
• Substance abuse assessment and monitoring
• Relapse prevention
• Family assessment and counseling
• Assistance with transportation
• Court advocacy
• Nursing Assessment and Services

Project Connect also links families with community resources, including:

• Substance abuse treatment agencies
• Child care
• Health care
• Housing
• Family assessment and counseling
• Education
• Mental health
• Legal services
• Medical Services

Project Connect works! Substance abuse by parents is often a significant factor in the risk of child abuse or neglect. An independent evaluation determined that 45% of children whose families were served by Project Connect were reunited after an average of five months. Of families that did not participate, only 18% of children were reunited after ten months. Evaluations continue to show high levels of family or participant satisfaction and a significant rate of improved commitment to recovery for those completing Project Connect services.

For more information about Project Connect at Children's Friend, contact Tina Laprade, Director of Family Preservation, at (401) 276-4300 or by email at vlaprade@cfsri.org