Exchange Family Center History
1992
The Exchange Family Center of Durham, NC was established in 1992. The legal name is the Exchange Club's Child Abuse Prevention Center in Durham, Inc.
Referrals were first accepted for the Parent Aide Program in June 1992 — the Family Support Program was borne from serving these families.
1993
The Exchange Family Center gained recognition in the community and referrals increased.
By 1993 the Exchange Family Center was serving an average of 16 families each month.
1998
In 1998 the Parenting of Adolescents Program was added — an in-home counseling program for juvenile offenders and at-risk youth.
The Parenting of Adolescents Program also conducts groups with parents referred by the Durham Drug Treatment Court. It remains today as the only home-based counseling program dealing specifically with families of adolescents involved with, or at risk of involvement in, the Juvenile Court System.
Parenting of Adolescents staff was trained in Functional Family Therapy treatment model.
1999
The Early Childhood Outreach Program was first funded by Durham's Partnership for Children in 1999 to address a gap in services. Specifically, it addresses the issue of child expulsion from childcare. This is because children are more likely to be expelled between the ages of birth to five, than Kindergarten through 12th grade combined.
2002
In January 2002 we became a participating agency of Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina. We have presented annually at their state conference and this collaboration allows us to increase our networking and collaborative efforts with other agencies.
2005
In 2005 we started a contract with the Department of Social Services and expanded the Family Support Program (previously known as the Parent Aide model).
2006
In 2006 all Early Childhood Outreach Program staff members were trained in the Deveraux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) and were clinically certified in the DECA-C.
2007
We added a Child Team Decision Making Facilitator position in the Family Support Program and expanded our contract with the Durham County Department of Social Services to better assist the families in need.
We were awarded a Duke Endowment to train and implement the Family Support Program Staff in the evidence-based model, called Parent Child Interaction Therapy. This 14-20 week intensive education program is for parents. We have received overwhelming positive feedback from parents who have participated in this training and continue to use this model to improve parent and child communications and interactions.
The Early Childhood Outreach Program added a seminar, "Caring for Children with Challenging Behavior" now known as the EChO CSEFEL Pyramid Model Seminar.
2008
We began providing Motivational Interviewing, with several of the staff being certified in the model.
Our staff was trained in, and began providing, the Incredible Years parenting classes (for children 6-9 years), and the Strengthening Families Program, for youth ages 11-14 and their families, to improve communications, interactions and youth behaviors.
2009
We officially became a United Way Partner Agency. We have been recipients of the Allocation Funding from United Way of the Greater Triangle for four consecutive years.
This same year we became certified as Anger Management educators. We continue to provide this service through our Family Support Program.
All staff is trained in CSEFEL Pyramid Model.
2010
We were able to provide all of our services to children and their families in English and Spanish.
2011
The Parenting of Adolescents staff switched to a more successful model, Multidimensional Family Therapy.
One of the staff became certified as a trainer and joined the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. That person now teaches and coaches other staff in the model.
2012
The Early Childhood Outreach program added coaching to their full list of services. This enables the staff to provide assistance to the child care providers and teachers in a unique way in the pre-school and child care classrooms.
2014
We began seeing clients with our new model — Attachment, Biobehavioral, Catch-up (ABC), to help parents who may have children (ages 10-24 months) that are having trouble bonding with the parent(s).
Staff is trained in Nurturing Parenting Program, Incredible Years, and Circle of Parents, Motivational Interviewing, Anger Management and Strengthening Families, Biofeedback, and available to facilitate classes or workshops.
2015
With funding through the Alternatives to Commitment Program from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, we were able to provide Multidimensional Family Therapy to youth transitioning back into the community from a Youth Development Center or out-of-home placement and their families while the youth was still in placement.
2016
In 2016 we added new capacity to reach vulnerable children with a new collaboration with Durham County Department of Social services for families who were reported to Child Welfare but weren’t found in need of mandatory services.
We also expanded our capacity to support children from families that experienced domestic violence as part of a collaboration between Exchange Family Center, Durham County Department of Social Services, Duke’s Center for Child and Family Health, and Duke’s Center for Child and Family Policy.
2017
We celebrated 25 years of making children’s lives better by developing the skills and capacities of the caring adults they rely on with proven counseling, coaching, and training.
In 2017, we expanded our use of Triple P: Positive Parenting Program and began facilitating seminars in Positive Parenting, Raising Confident & Competent Children, and Raising Resilient Children. We were very engaged in community efforts to increase resilience, including continued leadership in Durham’s Early Childhood Mental Health Taskforce and participating in the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) work group led by Durham County commissioners.
2018
In support of the agency’s ongoing growth, Exchange Family Center added additional infrastructure and relocated to larger office space on Croasdaile Drive.
This year, all staff members also took part in a two-day racial equity training. Exchange Family Center began its journey to further incorporate principles of inclusion into all of our policies and practices, for a more equitable and safe space.
2019
With federal funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Exchange Family Center joined multiple partners in its new collaboration of the Responsive Early Access for Durham’s Young Children (READY) project.
The Parenting of Adolescents Program adopted two new evidence-based models to meet a wider range of family needs, with therapists becoming trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Triple P for Teens.