3-5-7 Model©

The 3-5-7 Model® is designed to help professionals and parents work with children and youth to address issues of grief and loss. It is an evidence-informed, guided-practice approach that supports the work of children and parents in grieving their losses and rebuilding their relationships in an effort to achieve well-being, safety and permanency. The 3-5-7 Model® asserts the belief that relationships are a continual process that gives rise to both hurt and wholeness. Healing is a relational process honoring the whole person: life story, life experiences, traumas, strength and resiliency. Children, youth and families have the ability to resolve their needs if they are provided with the support and time to do so.
To support these beliefs, the model incorporates its theoretical underpinnings from child development, attachment, separation and loss, trauma, family systems and relationship development. Program goals include identifying feelings of loss, integrating and giving meaning to all past and current relationships, and actualizing future relationships and goals. The foundational topics include: separation and loss, the grieving process, developmental growth stages, relationship building through attachment activities, trauma-influenced behaviors, and family and organizational systems. The 3-5-7 Model® has become a core practice of public and private child welfare organizations throughout the United States that are bringing a structured approach to permanency decision-making for young people and their families.