Behavioral Support for Adoptive Families

The Behavioral Supports for Adoptive Families (BSAF) program is to provide in-home, intensive, short-term, behavioral therapy to children in the DYFS foster care system, whose case goal is adoption. The therapist helps prepare and motivate families to utilize services above and beyond our therapeutic sessions that are based in their communities.

Top priority for referrals is given to DYFS children and families, who live in the central New Jersey region, which includes Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean, Somerset and Hunterdon Counties. The referrals must come from the DYFS caseworker or supervisor. The children referred to this program must have behavioral issues that need to be addressed. The therapist sees the referred child once a week for the first four weeks. Unless therapeutically contraindicated, treatment will then be provided on a bi-weekly basis over the next three months. Referred children may be living in foster homes or in selected adoptive homes.

Priority for eligibility is given first to children living in selected adoptive homes, whose behavioral problems are threatening to disrupt the placement, secondly to children living in foster homes, whose behavioral problems are threatening to disrupt the placement, and thirdly to any child in foster or adoptive care through DYFS, who is experiencing behavioral difficulties. If a family is close to disruption, priority will be given to that case over others.