UCLA Family Development Program
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Program Overview
The UCLA Family Development Program (FDP) provides evaluation, consultation, prevention, and treatment services for parents and families who are facing early life medical challenges with their infant, including high-risk pregnancies and NICU stays. The Family Development Program enhances the ability of family members to care for themselves and each other, fostering relationships that are nurturing and child centered.
The Family Development Program offers services in the hospital, in an outpatient clinic, and through home visits. The network of support for families is further strengthened through delivery of staff education to bring trauma-informed, resilience-promoting, and family-centered care to the NICU.
Services
Being a new parent can be tough. The Family Development Program is here to help by providing individual, couples, and group therapy as well as bedside consultations to parents whose babies have ongoing and past hospital stays. Visits can be virtual or in person, depending on the family’s needs. Skilled Family Development Program providers offer guidance for bonding with baby and strategies for coping with the many difficulties that parents experience when infants are facing medical challenges. The program also provides confidential mental health assessment and referrals to additional resources, individual consultations and family therapy, as well as ongoing support during and after the transition home via virtual or in-person sessions.
Program history
The Family Development Program was launched in 1987 by Dr. Christoph Heinicke, a leader in the field of parent-infant attachment. The evidence-based program is grounded in decades of research and theory and has provided high-quality services to new parents and their families in Los Angeles County for over 30 years. In its current iteration, the program is affiliated with UCLA’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Nathanson Family Resilience Center, and Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Integrating with these important UCLA centers has allowed the program to both contribute to and make use of the most current research in family resilience, child development, and perinatal mental health. With funding from longstanding private donors, the Family Development Program continues to grow and meet the changing needs of families and providers.
Who We See
The Family Development Program offers these services to parents and families who are facing early life medical challenges with their infant and want to provide the best possible future for their family. Health challenges may include NICU stays, surgeries, high-risk antepartum hospitalizations, and other medical complications.
Contact us
To learn more and schedule an appointment: 310-825-7573 | [email protected]
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