Family and Natural Supports

Family and Natural Supports (FNS) is an approach designed to strengthen the relationships of at-risk youths between the ages of 13 and 24 with their family and with other important adult relationships (also known as natural supports) in order to prevent them experiencing homelessness.

The word “family” can provoke mixed feelings for many youths experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Family may bring up past sources of pain as a result of conflict, neglect, or even abuse and separation. Unfortunately, a large number of young people enter into homelessness because of challenges they experienced with their parents and family. The Without a Home study found that 77.5% of youth cited an inability to get along with their parents as a key reason they left home.

But the word family can also prompt positive associations as well, of a person’s first experiences of love, attachment, and care. Although many young people flee abusive and otherwise problematic family situations, the Without a Home study also found that a majority of youth surveyed were in contact with a family member at least once per month and that 77.3% would like to improve their relationships with family.

For those providers supporting youth at risk of or going through homelessness, then, it is important to recognize the crucial role that such relationships play in personal development and to find ways to support youth in understanding, navigating, and strengthening these vital connections.

For most young people, there is at least one adult—maybe a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling, neighbour, teacher, tutor, Elder—who is important and cares about them. Strengthening these relationships through counselling, mediation, and skill building may be the support that a young person needs to prevent them from experiencing homelessness, keep them connected to community and school, and create a network of support they can draw upon throughout their life. FNS work is based on the understanding that young people cannot—and should not have to—rely solely on professional supports to provide a sense of belonging and social inclusion.

FNS as a Philosophy, a Practice, and a Program Test the Super Long Heading

As a philosophy, FNS invites organizations to ask how they are currently viewing family and natural supports in existing services and think about ways that they can encourage service providers to view youths’ relationships as undiscovered strengths. This can take on a variety of forms, such as creating organizational policies that require staff to ask a young person about their existing and desired network of support during intake. By considering the importance of a young person’s network of supports, communities and organizations can transform the experience that a young person has with systems and leverage the support that a youth may already have.

In the case of FNS as a practice, staff are hired to work within an existing program to offer dedicated services to youth and their network of supports based on FNS principles. These individuals support young people and families by providing intensive case management, family mediation, and counselling, all of which are designed to strengthen ties to family and natural supports. This can be useful for some organizations or communities that don’t yet have the capacity to create a distinct program, or in which a distinct program is not needed within that community. For instance, FNS as a practice is central to Reconnect and to Housing First for Youth.

As a program, FNS is operationalized as a standalone service delivery model or set of activities provided by an agency or organization. Such a service delivery approach involves dedicated resources and staff that support youth in enhancing their relationships with chosen family and supports. In this context, FNS programs can be standalone services for young people who are at risk of, are experiencing, or have exited homelessness. For example, Covenant House Toronto operates an FNS program designed to offer intensive clinical and case management support to help young people reconnect with family members in a safe and supportive way.

Core Principles

1) Connection First

Relationships are as essential as physical needs, such as food, shelter, and clothing. These connections provide a sense of identity, belonging, and inclusion, which are vital to the emotional and psychological well-being of youth. Practically speaking, social and emotional needs will take longer to address than basic physical needs, but the principle of connection first is that FNS can begin exploring these needs right away—from the first moment a young person starts interacting with a service provider—and determining how service providers can support youth in meeting their needs.

Additionally, this principle recognizes that all young people have a right to access services without preconditions or having to demonstrate that they are “ready” for service. To this end, it is crucial that organizations remove barriers that may cause situations in which young people cannot access available services that support them in connecting family members and natural supports so that they are able to participate in the intervention as quickly as possible.

2) Youth and Family at the Centre

FNS is a youth-focused intervention that supports the whole family (as defined by the young person), meaning that family members and natural supports who consent to receiving services are also considered participants. Work with families should take a strengths-based approach that recognizes and supports existing family strengths and resources. There may be times when case work with a family takes on a life outside of the young person (e.g., a parent requires individual clinical support). In these cases, referrals and supports will need to be made for family members and natural supports outside of the relational work that is done with the young person.

3) Autonomy and Accountability Go Hand in Hand

FNS respects the autonomy of young people, their families, and their natural supports. This means giving youth and supports the freedom to make decisions, which also comes with responsibilities. Because the goal of FNS programs is to enhance a young person’s natural supports, it is imperative that staff work alongside young people to determine the best path forward. In practice, young people should be supported to make choices and learn from their mistakes. This requires that they have enough information to make informed decisions. It is also important that family and/or natural supports have the required information to make informed decisions about participating in the program.

4) Skill Building that Leads to Growth

Given that permanent relationships are important for mental health and well-being, FNS believes in the importance of building skills to develop more positive relationships and encourage emotional growth. The FNS model employs a “positive youth development” orientation—a strengths-based approach that focuses on building assets, confidence, and resilience, while addressing risks and vulnerabilities that young people may face. FNS supports youth, families, and natural supports to find, build, and maintain meaningful relationships so that they can rely less on professional supports.

FNS programs also include referrals to external programs that meet the full needs of the family. Examples of these external programs may include additional mental health supports, substance use programs, housing stabilization supports, legal supports, and educational or employment programs. There is no time limit on participation in Family and Natural Supports programs.

5) Individualized, Flexible, and Non-Judgemental Practice

NS is based in family systems theory and anti-oppressive practice, which means viewing the individual holistically within the context of family dynamics and systems of power. Family systems theory is based on the assumption that all behaviours are better understood in context, and that often the most useful focus may be on how family relationships are structured, rather than on individual pathology.

In consultations, youth spoke about the need for FNS workers to be consistent, flexible, accessible (easily able to be contacted), and responsive in short time frames. Families and young people identified that one of their biggest concerns about engaging in Family and Natural Supports work was that workers would judge them and blame them for family breakdown. For these reasons, it is very important for workers to ensure that they engage their clients in a non-judgmental, empathetic, and compassionate way.

This article was adapted from Family and Natural Supports: A Framework to Enhance Young People’s Network of Support.

Want to learn more about FNS? Take our free training available on the Homelessness Learning Hub!