Frequently Asked Questions

Intensive in-home services consist of home-based and family-centered counseling for children/adolescents who are at risk of out-of-home placement due to their behaviors.

Services are intense and are provided from 3 to 10 hours per week to the child and family in their homes, schools, and sometimes at Middle Peninsula-Northern Neck Community Services Board (MPNNCSB) outpatient clinics or agencies in the community where the child and family are involved.

The child's residence, as the setting for the services, is more likely to be successful than a clinical setting.

Children who have mental, behavioral, or emotional illness, are at risk of out-of-home placement due to their clinical needs, and need services more intensive than outpatient clinic care are eligible if they also meet at least two of the following criteria:

• Exhibit difficulty in cognitive ability such that they are unable to recognize personal danger or significantly inappropriate social behavior. For example, a child who is acting out in such a fashion that there is risk of harm to herself/himself or to others
• Exhibit such inappropriate behavior that repeated interventions by mental health, social services, or judicial system are necessary
• Have difficulty in establishing or maintaining normal interpersonal relationships to a degree that they are at risk of hospitalization or out-of-home placement because of conflicts with family or community

Medicaid and Comprehensive Services Act (CSA) funds that are approved by the Family Assessment and Planning Team (FAPT) and Community Policy and Management Team (CPMT) pay for these services. 

Children with Serious Emotional Disturbance may need to be hospitalized. We work closely with the family to manage the child's symptomatic behavior without hospitalization, if possible, by implementing a structured plan to avoid a hospital stay. Therapists and supervisors are available 24/7 to monitor and assist. However, if a structured plan cannot be implemented with the parents and family, therapists arrange for prescreening with Middle Peninsula Northern Neck Community Services Board (MPNNCSB) staff and admission to a hospital.

Family and/or caretakers are often in the best position to identify triggers of crises within the home environment. Middle Peninsula Northern Neck Community Services Board (MPNNCSB) staff can often guide them to change patterns that may contribute to emergency situations. Parents or caretakers, assisted by MPNNCSB staff, can then make a significant systemic change that may ultimately reduce or potentially even eliminate the child's serious emotional and behavioral problems.

No, not directly. The following community members must provide referrals:

• Family Assessment and Planning Team (FAPT) members
• Probation Officers
• School Counselors
• Social Workers
• Therapists