FOCCUS began as a project of the Institute for International Connections (IIC), a national organization of social workers, educators, psychologists and psychotherapists. IIC is dedicated to fostering implementation of Virginia Satir's pioneering work on family systems and democratic relationships in the former Soviet Union.

An IIC conference in Veronesh, Russia, in 1995 initiated contact with a group of educated and committed young Soviet professionals who had just been hired by UNESCO to staff the new community centers. In 1996 the IIC Board approved a proposal by Norma Berkowitz to launch a support project on behalf of these Centers.

In spring 2002 FOCCUS became in independent non-profit corporation qualified by the internal revenue service as a 501c3, tax exempt organization with its own Board of Directors.