The following are some of the advantages of the 'Family Teaching Model' (FTM) approach:

• Direct care employee turnover rates are over 350% less than the turnover rates of models of care in which employees provide care in shifts;
• Family-Teaching Model homes have 78% fewer staff vacancies than do shift-style models of care
• Fewer different caregivers are involved in providing care (23% fewer), yet staff ratios are higher than available in comparably funded shift-style homes.
• Lasting, meaningful relationships form between Family Teaching Couples and their families and persons having developmental disabilities and their families; and
• Measures of satisfaction of families and guardians of persons receiving services in Family-Teaching Model homes are very high.

Source: Journal of Organizational Behavior Management

California Community Opportunities (CCO) is a locally operated non-profit organization led by parents who have children with developmental disabilities. Its primary mission is to provide a high quality solution for serving persons with severe to profound developmental disabilities being placed out of Agnews Developmental Center.

CCO provides services in Family Teaching, and Extended Family Teaching Homes. These models offer people with severe developmental and behavioral challenges the opportunity to live in their own homes in the community and develop a lifestyle they choose.

Technical assistance and administrative mentoring and support are being provided to CCO by Community Living Opportunities, Inc. (CLO), a not-for-profit, organization based in Kansas. CLO and its faculty partners from the University of Kansas have over a quarter of a century of experience of developing, implementing and researching best practice community models of support, including CLO's Family Teaching Model and Extended Family Teaching Model. CLO was selected to provide this support by Agnews parents, and professionals from San Andreas Regional Center, DDS, and Agnews Developmental Center. Groups of these individuals visited the Kansas program on multiple occasions to observe the structure and quality of the program.

CCO’s Family Teaching Model (FTM) services are designed to be provided in sets of duplexes. CCO hires a married couple (called a 'Family Teaching Couple') to live on one side of a duplex and to provide the primary care and services to three individuals with developmental disabilities who reside on the other side. The Family Teaching Couple manages the home and provides direct care with assistance from their support staff (called 'Family Teaching Counselors').

CCO also provides Extended Family Teaching (EFTM) services through a contractual relationship with selected staff from Agnews who have a long-term, positive relationship with a consumer being placed from Agnews. The consumer resides with the Extended Family Teacher in the family home.

CCO provides a multitude of supports to the Family Teaching Couples and Extended Family Teachers to ensure homes are successful and of high quality. This includes a behavior analyst, registered nurse and management coaches who visit the homes at least weekly. In addition, CCO’s mentoring agency, CLO, provides regular on-site training to direct staff and managers, and quality assurance evaluations of the homes.

CCO currently operates four Family Teaching Homes within the Cupertino area. Five additional sets of duplexes have been purchased within San Jose and Los Gatos for establishing Family Teaching homes. Several more placements are planned for in January and February.

» Click Here for links to related to CCO and/or our services

» Click Here for CCO Board Info

CCO is a 501(c) 3 organization
Federal Tax ID number: 65-1233812