UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital: Oakland: The Center for the Vulnerable Child, CVC

The Center for the Vulnerable Child (CVC) is a department of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland that provides clinical and social services, support for families in transition, and parental education.

The CVC serves children who live in environments that may put them at risk for social, educational, physical, or mental health problems, such as families facing poverty, homelessness or risk of homelessness, or involvement in the foster care system – children served by the CVC are not necessarily receiving medical services from Children’s Hospital.

The caseload of clients you will be assigned will be diverse in age, ethnicity, and economic status. At CVC we maintain a commitment to cultural responsiveness and accountability in all of the work we do.

Clinicians on the CATS Project work with children up to age 18 who are living with their biological parents as part of the Family Maintenance Program at Alameda County’s Department of Children and Family Services.  Referrals to CATS come from Family Maintenance Workers. Additionally, the CATS Project has participated in a collaboration with Children's Hospital Endocrinology Department and Alameda County Children and Family Services, to provide CATS services to children and families who are referred to the Family Maintenance Program due to 'poor management' of the child's diabetes. Thus, some of the children served by CATS have diabetes, but the majority are involved with Children and Family Services for other reasons.

THE CATS (Child Assessment and Transitional Services) Project  (ONE INTERN)

Clinical modalities taught and practiced include individual child and adolescent therapy, family therapy, and therapeutic case management. Clinical work at the CATS Project integrates diverse theoretical approaches, with an emphasis on attachment theory, family systems theory, and systematic approaches to the treatment of complex trauma.  Interns will have the opportunity to provide weekly individual and/or family therapy to at least four children or families, usually in the families’ homes and collaborate with child welfare workers.

Recently, the Center for the Vulnerable Child, CVC, has added another internship placement. Please see internship description below.

fAMILY oUTREACH AND SUPPORT AND THE ENCORE mEDICAL cLINICS (One Intern)

Family Outreach and Support and The Encore Medical Clinics are programs of the Center for the Vulnerable Child. FOSC/EMC are designed to meet the needs of children up to age 12 and families who have been or are in contact with the foster care system, including biological families, kinship care families and foster care families. We also serve children and families living in transitional or homeless situations.

The FOSC/EMC trainee will be training and working primarily in the FOSC clinic and will participate in a joint case conference that includes trainees working in the EMC clinic. The FOSC clinic offers medical care and case management services that includes coordination of medical care and assistance to identify other needed services.

The trainee will be in Clinic two half days per week and will be seeing patients and working alongside other providers including case managers, the attending physician, a licensed social worker and a marriage and family therapist. Additionally, trainees will hold a small case load of patients that will be followed outside of the clinic for ongoing care.

As an interdisciplinary team, CVC currently offers both social work and psychology training.  Interns in the CVC program participate in weekly individual supervision, case conference, a cultural accountability and responsiveness seminar, multidisciplinary didactic training, as well as monthly CVC-wide trainings. Interns will be supported in gaining competence with EPSDT.