New Jersey Launches Statewide BSFT Initiative to Strengthen Families and Prevent Out-of-Home Placement

Partnering with Empower Community Care and its Brief Strategic Family Therapy program, New Jersey is delivering powerful, evidence-based therapy across all 21 counties through a statewide network of provider agencies.

ATLANTA, July 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The New Jersey Department of Children and Families (NJ DCF) Division of Family and Community Partnerships (FCP), in partnership with Empower Community Care, a leading global behavioral health and education organization that delivers evidence-based programs and tools, has successfully launched its Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT) program statewide. This family-centered prevention service is designed to strengthen family relationships, stabilize youth, and help families stay safely together. BSFT is one of several evidence-based models in Empower's portfolio, and this rollout reflects its broader platform of training, consultation, and quality infrastructure Empower builds around each program it supports.

Supported through Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) funding, the initiative expanded BSFT across all 21 counties through six regional programs and established a statewide structure for training, consultation, data collection, and continuous quality improvement, so families can receive effective help earlier and avoid out-of-home placement.

The launch was marked by strong planning, high provider satisfaction, and disciplined execution, resulting in universal geographic access to BSFT and a sustainable infrastructure for ongoing delivery. Provider feedback reinforced the success of the rollout, with a provider survey routinely citing exceptional training quality and clarity, preparedness to implement, and overall training experience.

For BSFT leaders, the New Jersey work stands out as a model rollout for other states. New Jersey's consistent follow-through, detailed planning, strong communication, and willingness to build leadership with provider agencies while maintaining accountability ensured remarkable success for the state.

"What really stands out about New Jersey is the level of communication and coordination," said Debra Miller, BSFT Associate Director at Empower Community Care. "The partnership was thoughtful, highly responsive, and focused on making sure provider agencies had what they needed to implement BSFT well. We are proud to support New Jersey's commitment to families by expanding access to evidence-based care that strengthens family relationships, reduces stress at home, and helps keep families safely together."

"New Jersey's rollout is exactly the kind of partnership we aim to build with every state we work with," added Kortney Dale, Executive Director of Evidence-Based Programs at Empower Community Care. "It's not just about delivering one program well; it's about giving states the infrastructure to sustain effective, evidence-based care at scale. This launch shows what's possible when a state invests in both the clinical model and the systems behind it, and we see it as a model for how Empower partners with states across our full continuum of programs."

New Jersey paired thoughtful support from NJ DCF with an evaluation team from the start, a clear implementation strategy, manualized procedures, launch supports, regular meetings with NJ DCF, consultation teams, and a commitment to continuous quality improvement. That balance of structure and flexibility became a defining feature of the partnership, allowing the state to manage a brand-new statewide implementation while adapting to provider and family needs.

BSFT is an evidence-based, trauma-informed family therapy program that helps families strengthen relationships, improve parenting structure, address youth behavioral health and family instability concerns, and reduce the risk of out-of-home placement. Early feedback from New Jersey indicates that families are communicating more effectively, experiencing less stress, restoring caregiver leadership in the home, and building stronger family cohesion with BSFT.

"At the heart of this work is a simple goal: making sure families can get meaningful help before challenges become crises," said Sanford Starr, Assistant Commissioner of FCP at NJ DCF. "The successful rollout of BSFT reflects the commitment of our provider network, the support of Empower and the BSFT team, and a shared belief that families do better when they can access timely and effective services. We are proud of what this initiative is already making possible for children and families across New Jersey."

With statewide infrastructure now in place, New Jersey is positioned to move from launch to long-term sustainability. The next phase is expected to focus on continued evaluation, on-site supervisor and trainer development, and maintaining the cross-system partnership that helped make the rollout successful.

For more information about support and services for children and families in New Jersey, visit the New Jersey Department of Children and Families at www.nj.gov/dcf/. To learn more about Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT) and Empower's continuum of evidence-based programs and solutions, visit us online at www.empowercommunitycare.com/bsft.

About Empower Community Care
Empower Community Care is a leading global behavioral health organization that delivers evidence-based programs, technologies, and tools to improve outcomes for youth, adults, families, and communities. Serving more than 2,000 agency and system customers, Empower works across all 50 U.S. states and over 35 countries, strengthening services for more than 3 million families worldwide and training over 23,000 professionals in evidence-based practices and growing. To learn more, visit EmpowerCommunityCare.com and follow Empower on LinkedIn.

Media Contact:

Caryn Tomer
VP, Marketing for Empower Community Care
618.579.9717
[email protected] 

SOURCE Empower Community Care