Prevention & Family Support
The Child Center of NY helps parents and other caregivers develop the tools to raise their children in a safe and nurturing environment. We provide support for many different kinds of families—from those currently involved with the child protection system to those who simply feel overwhelmed by the stresses of their daily lives. Whatever their situation, we empower caregivers to handle challenges positively and constructively. All of our programs include parent education, family counseling, home visits by master’s-level social workers and other trained case planners, and an emphasis on keeping families together. We prevent children from entering foster care by helping caregivers create and maintain a safe and supportive home.
School-Based Early Support Program
School-Based Early Support is a preventive service program. Our goal is to partner closely with schools to connect neighborhood families to an array of supports and services. Our strategy for working in schools is to embed ourselves into the fabric of the school and community, creating strong collaborative partnerships with administrators, teachers, parents, students, and other community organizations.
We support families in their communities, promote family stability and well-being, and reduce the need for placement of children into foster care. SBES supports families so that children and adolescents are safe and able to thrive in stable, nurturing homes and communities by providing the following services:
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Free in-home services
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Case management
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Evidence-based parent/caregiver support and parenting training
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Co-designed school-based offerings and referral linkages to community-based programs
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Concrete support to help families meet basic needs
Services are accessible to families regardless of immigration status. Referrals can be made by individuals, school personnel, and community-based organizations.
Locations
Clinical & Behavioral Health Consultation
Through our innovative consultation models, The Child Center extends its reach by lending its expertise in mental health to other organizations and government offices. In this way, they can reach their own communities with the skilled, compassionate, and sustainable care that all people deserve.
At Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) Field Offices, The Child Center of NY’s Clinical Consultation teams assist in training child protective staff and assessing families regarding mental health, substance use, and domestic violence concerns. Through consultations and training, our Clinical Consultation teams touch the lives of more than 30,000 families a year, helping them develop the tools to raise their children in a safe and nurturing environment. Our recommendations and referrals help instill confidence in caregivers’ ability to cope with life’s challenges, which in turn promotes positive and constructive parenting and lets their children know they are supported, safe, and deeply loved.
In addition, our Behavioral Health Consultation teams partner with other community-based organizations to offer therapy and other mental health services. The way this works is that The Child Center opens a New York State-licensed mental health satellite in a collaborating agency’s location. The Child Center provides clinical supervision, regulatory training, therapy model training, and electronic health record access and training, as well as billing and operational follow-up.
At The Child Center, we know that trust in the community is one of the most important components of service. Through our behavioral health consultation model, we can lend our expertise to other organizations that have built trust in their communities and increase our reach to serve even more children, adults, families, and communities.
Interested in learning more? Check out our ACS Clinical Consultation Unit in Queens, The Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, or our Behavioral Health Consultation Partners in East Harlem, Far Rockaway, The Bronx, or Brooklyn.
Child Center Benefits Access
Our Benefits Access program provides free counseling on entitlements, health insurance, financial guidance, social services, and legal services. On-site health insurance and SNAP (“food stamp”) enrollment are available. These services are open to the community for people of all ages, with or without children.
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Hours: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and some evenings; please call individual sites for details; virtual appointments are available.
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Services provided: Assistance in accessing entitlements, health insurance, and social services. Free on-site legal services; financial counseling, medical and SNAP (“food stamp”) enrollment, assistance in tax preparation. Referral to social services such as afterschool programs, child care, summer camp, unemployment/employment programs, GED/ESL.
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Special services: On-site health insurance and SNAP (formerly “food stamp”) enrollment, Medicaid, and other types of health insurance from NYSOH (New York State of Health), with direct linkage to the Human Resource Administration, enabling families to obtain their medical and/or food stamp benefits within a 30-day period.
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Languages spoken: English, Spanish. In addition, we can provide services to clients in any language through the use of an interpretation service.
