Good Hearts Youth + Family Services
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Care Standards

Philosophies & policies.

How we protect, guide and care for every child, and how to refer a child to Good Hearts.

Discipline De-escalation Emergency Interventions Referral Procedure

Philosophy on Discipline

Positive discipline, always.

Positive discipline is used to shape new behaviors and decrease negative ones. Good Hearts foster parents teach, encourage and model, and never punish in ways that harm, shame or isolate a child.

Positive discipline will be utilized to shape new behaviors and/or decrease negative behaviors.

The following are strictly prohibited:

  • Ridicule, verbal abuse or threats
  • Any form of physical punishment
  • Punishment for bed-wetting or toilet training
  • Delegating discipline to other children or to strangers
  • Denying food, water, shelter, sleep, clothing or bedding
  • Denying services in the child's Service Plan
  • Denying contact with family or siblings, or threatening loss of visits
  • Pointless strenuous work or exercise as punishment
  • Forced long periods of silence
  • Seclusion in a locked room
  • Group punishment for one child's behavior
  • Threatening loss of placement or removal from the home
  • Using food, including snacks and candy, as a primary reward or punishment

De-escalation & Crisis Management

A calm, therapeutic approach.

Good Hearts supports preventive de-escalation and a calming, therapeutic approach to avoid the use of restraints. Through supervision we make sure foster parents:

Provide a safe, stable, and structured environment

Minimize disruption to the child during a crisis

Use developmentally and age-appropriate interventions

Emergency Behavior Interventions

Our desire: that no child is ever restrained.

An emergency behavior intervention, including personal restraint, is only ever used when a child is at risk of harming themselves or others, and only if the child's Treatment Plan provides for it.

Never permitted at Good Hearts

  • Physical restraint of pregnant children
  • Seclusion
  • Chemical restraints and sprays (tear gas, pepper spray) and emergency medications
  • Mechanical restraints (handcuffs, harnesses, high chairs used for discipline, rope or straps)
  • Successive interventions

Referral Procedure

Referring a child to Good Hearts.

Referrals are made to our Placement Coordinator, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. After hours, referrals go to our on-call worker.

Call the Placement Coordinator

(281) 298-4028

We consider the child's age, functioning level, proximity to siblings, family experience, community resources and supervision ability.

24hours

Non-emergency referrals

A placement decision is made within 24 hours of receiving all required documents.

30minutes

Emergency referrals

Decisions within 30 minutes, and the referring worker is notified within 1 hour.

Emergency admission applies when a child:

  • Is being removed from alleged abuse or neglect
  • Is an alleged perpetrator who cannot remain in their current placement
  • Is an immediate danger to self or others
  • Is abandoned and unidentified
  • Urgently needs a residence
  • Is released by law enforcement or juvenile probation
  • Is without adult care

Good Hearts does not accept emergency referrals for the Adoption, Primary Medical Needs, or Transitional Living programs.