History of BFC

: What We Do : History of BFC

The Blueprint for Change

Our roots date back to 1994 when the State Legislature, responding to growing concerns about child abuse and neglect, established a task force to help reform the state’s ailing child protective services system. Calling for a proactive, coordinated plan to protect Hawaii’s children, BFC was founded on a shared vision that, “Every child in Hawaii will grow up in a loving family a nurturing home and a safe environment.”

In the early days, BFC was essentially a focus group that brought together influential members from various sects of society. Social workers, doctors, lawyers, educators, bureaucrats and elected officials all teamed up to discuss various ways of improving the child welfare system. From these discussions came the notion of what would become the Neighborhood Place Model.

A Neighborhood Place (NP) is a community-based site that is geared to provide much-needed services ranging from prevention to intervention for families who are at risk for child abuse and neglect. Essentially, they bring family strengthening services directly to the communities that need them. Based on recommendations made by BFC, legislators launched a 3-year project within the state Department of Human Services (DHS) to create a series of Neighborhood Places throughout the state.

In 2002, BFC earned its non-profit status. Since that time, we have worked to create and sustain the NP model throughout the State of Hawai’i. To date, there are five Neighborhood Places, located on three islands here in Hawai’i. Our Neighborhood Places offer a community setting where parents and children can gather and benefit from supportive services and expertise of trained staff and volunteers. More importantly, the Neighborhood Places provide communities with a safe, family-style environment tailored to meet their individual needs.