Family Support Services

Filing Period

Jul 1, 2011 to Jun 30, 2012

Signed

Dec 12, 2012

Return Version

2011v1.2

Gross Receipts

$8,547,538

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Child welfare and family support- family school is a center-based parenting education program that works with children and families who have been referred by the philadelphia department of human services (dhs) to address child abuse and neglect. The goal is to keep families safely together whenever possible, and helping families work towards reunification if their children are in foster care. Parents are able to work and play with their children in individual classroom settings with a multidisciplinary team of teachers, teachers assistants, parent educator and social worker who teach, model and monitor skills helping to redirect behavior for the parents while providing close intervention and supervision. Children birth to five years old attend family school with their parents or caregivers. The "center based" program component, has families attending twice a week for 5 hours a day along with an "in home service" component where social workers visit the homes frequently to continue to work with the parents on the skills that they are learning at family school. This allows for social workers to to assess the parents ability to transfer the skills learned in the (family) school setting into their daily living environment. Parents leave family school with the following skills:- enhanced parental capacity to nurture and bond with their child- enhanced ability to communicate with the child- enhanced ability to engage in developmentally appropriate educational activities with their child based on a thorough understanding of a children's developmental stages and the behavior that accompanies each stage- enhanced knowledge of nutrition, portion control, menu planning, budgeting- enhanced knowledge of alternative disciplinary practices- enhanced social skills- navigation of systems-medical, educational,- enhanced life skills- appropriate dress, interview skills, computer skillschildren leave family school with:- improved language skills- improved cognitive skills- improved social and emotional development- improved motor skills coordination- improved school readiness skills; handwriting, name/color/letter/number/picture recognition, etc we served approximately 100 children and 82 parents in this program this year, with families enrolled in the program for averages of 7-10 months. We anticipate serving more than the fiscal year 2012 numbers this year because we are adding an evening program for teen parents who are unable to attend our program during the day because of scheduling conflicts. An estimated 85% of parents leave the program with enhanced parental capacity to raise and nurture their children safely and successfully; an estimated 90% have an increased awareness and understanding of children's developmental stages; an estimated 75% actually are able to implement all that they learn and put into practice their enhanced parenting skills. This decreased percentage is due to factors beyond the programs' control, as some parents with children in foster care have additional goals to meet before their children are returned, such as housing, additional mental health treatment, etc. In addition some parents are able to learn new skills but due to other challenges are unable to implement practical application of those skills. Their involvement in the program does increase their chances of reunifying with their children as they are able to exhibit to the court and dhs that they are in a much better position to parent their children once other barriers are removed. Finally, the majority of the parents in the program who have their children living with them maintain their children at home as a direct result of their enhanced skills learned in the program and the social work intervention received while enrolled.- the children leave the program with enhanced school readiness skills as follows: 76-82% of children progress in the area of cognitive development. They are more able to problem solve and demonstrate a positive approach to learning.-

Activity 3

We provide direct early intervention services for preschool children with teachers and speech, occupational, and physical therapists in a childs natural environment through our community early childhood program. Staff see children through the eyes of a child, educating and assisting them through many fun activities designed to decrease delays and increase life and educational success in their future years.we provide educational services prescribed through a child's individual educational plan as developed after a full assessment measuring current development and skill level relative to age appropriate development in the areas of language, motor coordination, etc. These community services are provided in child care centers, head start centers, or in the child's home. We also have an early intervention center based program for children ages 3-5 years where children who have more significant development challenges receive intensive educational services also prescribed by their iep's with the same configuration of staff as well as teachers assistants. Children attend for various intervals during the week, we also have an inclusive preschool program for children ages 2-5, with before and after care, serving families from 7:30am until 6:00pm. This fiscal year, the birth to three department served 260 children; the three to five community program served 1162 children. The three to five center based program served 141 children and our inclusive preschool continued to grow providing great experiences for all. Services that we have been able to previously provide which are critical for the holistic approach to this educational program for children and families have had to be cut due to financial constraints. As such we continue to search for funding for our parenting program which serves to offer parents informational speakers on topics relating to special education services while also offering a network of support as they navigate the special needs of their children, in addition to our music program, nursing services, social work services, new toys or classroom supplies.

Filer

EIN

23-1994645