He learned what it felt like to lose everything familiar — his home, his sense of safety, and the certainty that his mom would always be there.
What he hadn’t learned yet was that healing is possible when the right support steps in.
At just seven years old, Diego* has already experienced more instability than many adults face in a lifetime. After being removed from his home due to his mother’s mental health crisis, he spent time in foster care while his family worked toward reunification. During that time, the separation was deeply frightening for him. He worried constantly about whether he would be able to go home again, struggled with anxiety about being taken away, and was easily overwhelmed by loud noises and unfamiliar environments. His restless energy made it difficult to settle into routines at the foster home.
Diego’s mother, who lives with bipolar disorder, PTSD, anxiety, and depression, worked hard while he was in foster care to stabilize her mental health and reunify with her son. The Intercept team began working with the family in the weeks leading up to reunification and continued supporting them as Diego returned home, helping ensure the transition was safe, stable, and successful.
Even after reunification, Diego’s mother remained committed to her mental health and to building on the progress she had made. She understood that recovery is an ongoing process, not a single milestone. But with reunification came new stress and responsibility, and she needed specialized, intensive support to sustain her progress and strengthen her family’s stability during this critical time.
She was committed to getting better for her son — but recovery rarely follows a straight line.
With the support of a permanency worker at OCOK, she engaged in comprehensive services over 12–18 months and made significant progress. At the point of reunification, the complexity and intensity of her needs — common in cases involving mental health, addiction, and other high‑risk factors — necessitated referral to Intercept to help sustain change and reduce the risk of children returning to foster care.
That’s where Intercept® came in.
Restoring Safety
Intercept® specialists walk alongside families during their most vulnerable moments, helping them strengthen relationships, restore safety, and develop tools to thrive together. With Diego’s family, our focus was on building trust, consistency, and structure — the cornerstones of trauma-informed care.
Through multiple weekly visits and coaching, our Intercept® Specialist, Alesia Burciaga, worked with Diego’s mother to create predictable routines, manage her mental health needs, and learn positive parenting strategies. We helped her coordinate with medical providers to stabilize her medications and guided her in using grounding techniques when anxiety began to spiral. For Diego, we introduced calming strategies, social skill-building activities, and ways to express big feelings safely.
Slowly, the home began to feel different. Diego began sleeping through the night. His mother communicated openly with her treatment team and became more confident in her parenting. The constant fear of another removal began to fade, replaced by connection, laughter, and hope.
Through Intercept®, a program of Youth Villages, ACH helps reunite foster children with their families.
Building a Safer, Steadier Home
After several months, the family’s case closed as a positive discharge. While their journey continues, Diego and his mother now have the tools and support network they need to move forward — together.
Intercept® continues to stand out as a groundbreaking approach to family preservation — one that meets families where they are, honors their resilience, and helps them heal from trauma with compassion and evidence-based care. It’s not just a program; it’s a lifeline for families like Diego’s, proving that with the right support, change — and healing — are always possible.
*Name and likeness changed for privacy purposes.
About Intercept®
Intercept® is a trauma-informed approach that offers a variety of evidenced-based and research-informed practices that meet the individualized needs of the family and child. The Intercept® model includes a systemic therapeutic approach to parenting skills education, school interventions, development of positive peer groups, and extensive help for families and children in accessing community resources and long-term, ongoing support.
The intensity of services is highly successful in helping families achieve and maintain stability so that children can remain in the home and avoid continued interactions with the court, child welfare, juvenile justice, and mental health systems.
The Youth Intercept Intercept program has helped tens of thousands of youth and families in 20 states since 2006.
