Crossnore receives NCDHHS contract to expand Homebuilders services

WINSTON-SALEM — Crossnore Communities for Children has announced that North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services has awarded the organization a contract to expand Homebuilders services into all Region 3 counties of North Carolina. These 15 counties include Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Davidson, Davie, Durham, Forsyth, Guilford, Orange, Person, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, and Yadkin.

Homebuilders is an evidence-based Intensive Family Preservation Service, working with children who are at highest risk of entering or reentering the foster care system. Homebuilders staff work within a family’s home roughly 10 hours each week, three to five days per week, to reduce or remove risk factors and improve child safety to ensure children can stay safely at home with their family of origin. The goal of the program is to remove the risk of harm to the child, instead of removing the child.

Angela Squire, Crossnore’s Senior Director of Prevention Services, says, “Crossnore began offering Homebuilders services in the Triad region in October 2021, following a generous donation from Elizabeth M. “Betty” Strickland. We are grateful for her investment in our pilot program, and look forward to honoring her memory by growing our team and helping more children in North Carolina avoid unnecessary placement in foster care.”

Since 2021, Crossnore’s Homebuilders Team has served 62 children and their families, with a 96% success in avoiding placement of children who were at imminent risk of entering foster care. Dr. Sarah Norris, Crossnore’s Chief Program Officer, says, “I am very excited to see how the initial investment our agency, community, and supporters made in this program has come to fruition and will lead to such a large impact for children and families we will continue to serve.”

Crossnore previously offered Homebuilders services to four Region 3 counties: Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford, and Surry. With the growth of Crossnore’s Homebuilders team and the expansion into 11 additional counties, NC DHHS estimates Crossnore will soon be serving roughly 170 families in the Homebuilders program each year.