Forestdale Inc

Programs: Forestdale's strong families foster care program worked with 570 children aged 0-21 placed in foster care during fy17. Our foster care program provides safe and nurturing homes to help youth achieve their personal, academic and professional goals. We aim to return children home to their parents as soon as it is safe to do so. In order to accomplish this, we implemented solution based casework which helps case planners and families create a partnership, identify destructive patterns of family life and establish new ways of interacting to create safety and reduce risk in those family situations. Our case work model, dynamic parenting programs, trauma informed therapeutic approaches, and academic and career development support focus on providing our youth and families with the tools and resources they need to thrive.

preventive services. Our strong families preventive services program serves approximately 200 families per year and helps them avoid foster care placement through our intervention which includes intensive counseling to address unemployment, truancy and mental health. Preventive caseworkers help families identify strengths to build upon as well as obstacles that impact their ability to be intimate and supportive of each other, from chronic unemployment to educational neglect to domestic violence. Families typically receive one year of services under the preventive program.

forestdale fathering initiative. The strong fathers program worked with 203 non-custodial fathers to help them re-engage in their families lives. The purpose of the strong fathers program is to prepare men to lovingly engage with their children, support their family financially, and develop healthy and respectful relationships with their children's mothers. The heart of the initiative is a 12-week course that blends intensive parenting skills with referrals to continuing education and job training programs. Additional services include anger management and male accountability groups, and co-parenting counseling.

other program services: strong mothers: the strong mothers program worked with over 100 pregnant and parenting young women in queens, providing information, support, and services to increase their access to healthcare, pursue educational and employment opportunities and reduce the risk of unplanned pregnancies. The support and services provided are offered on a group and/or an individual level. Services offered include, but are not limited to, weekly workshops on a variety of topics that increases a mother's ability to be self-sufficient, a community resource for educational and financial counseling, and other support services such as case planning, therapy, and/or family planning counseling for participants who need more individual support. Attachment and bio-behavioral catch-up (abc): our evidence-based mental health models help young people and families form strong family bonds and work to heal trauma. The abc program utilizes trained therapists who use coaching and video feedback to encourage a stronger parent-baby bond. Abc has been linked to increased attachment leading to better behavior in school, better relationships later in life, attitudes toward work, and adult global functioning. During fiscal year 2017, almost 50 dyads participated in abc. Health services: through partnership with nyu and a network of high quality medical, dental, and mental health providers, we help to ensure that 500 children receive great preventive and routine healthcare, as well as access to specialty care, when needed. Our new health home program provides a care management model for our youth with significant challenges to their physical, social and emotional well-being. The concept is to improve healthcare for the most high-need medicaid patients by averting costly hospital stays through access to high quality preventive and routine treatment. Over 40 of our youth were enrolled and receiving coordinated care led by several dedicated care managers who partner with a strong network of experienced health care organizations and professionals. Solutions-based casework (sbc): at the heart of all services for children who have experienced abuse or neglect, high quality casework practice helps vulnerable children achieve safety rather than face a lifetime of challenges. Developed at the university of louisville, sbc is an evidence-informed model in which the case planner and family identify problematic patterns, and create a map for the family to consistently pursue agreed-upon outcomes. Sbc creates a partnership with the family based on a consensus about the problems, and in language that makes sense to the family. It then focuses that partnership on the patterns of everyday family life that directly relate to threats to safety and targets solutions specific to the behaviors and conditions that brought the family in contact with the child welfare system. The family builds skills to create a safe family life. Workforce development: our new strong futures internship (sfi) program with youth ages 16-24, including young people who have been in foster care, helps them practice good work habits and overcome difficult workplace performance in the past. We have engaged over 30 young adults, meeting the needs and aspirations of these youth with multi-pronged, interlocking services. The curriculum was completed and refined this year with the help of the columbia university young adult workforce institute. Over 100% of those who completed sfi showed significant improvement in workplace performance. Maternal and infant health initiative: as the queens provider of this city-wide program, we work to promote women's health before, during and after pregnancy, through a combination of educational sessions, peer support, and individual counseling to reduce infant mortality and racial/ethnic disparities in maternal and infant health. Forestdale's strong futures program (preparing youth for adulthood) serves youth between the ages of 14 and 21, providing access to a range of resources to prepare for independent and successful living as adults. Youth development specialists help in specific areas ranging from education and mentoring to financial management, housing, and employment. Individualized assistance to help youth set and reach goals for independent living is also provided as well as regular workshops that vary in topics from college and career planning to healthy cooking. Annually, more than 100 youth receive individual tutoring and more than 40 youth have participated in the strong futures internship program where they gained first-hand experience in one of the following fields: it, maintenance/automotive, child care and reproductive health advocacy. Trauma systems therapy (tst): tst engages family and community members to build a healing environment for traumatized children. During the course of treatment, which can last up to 15 months, a therapeutic team of social workers, therapists and psychiatrists work with caregivers to eliminate trauma triggers, while helping children develop the ability to understand and control their emotions. Tst treats both the young person's emotional needs and the social environment in which he or she lives leading to improvement in emotional and behavioral regulation, lower rates of ptsd symptoms, reduced hospitalization, and improved psychosocial support and stability. Cicatelli/development for youth (dfy): dfy is a multi-session, group-level hiv, std and pregnancy prevention intervention for adolescents in the foster care system. Health & wellness/teaching kitchen: includes health and wellness cooking and nutrition classes for young people and families burdened by poverty, in order to promote healthier lifestyles. Education/scholarships: forestdale scholars (fs), a part of our strong futures program, provides academic support for over 100 youth in foster care (grades 5-12), with an emphasis on setting academic and behavioral foundations for college success. We provide educational opportunities to disadvantaged youth giving them the tools to succeed in life. Support includes in-home and center-based tutoring services for 106 students as well as visits to colleges and college support. Youth financial empowerment project/td bank: serving children aged 14-21 years the goal is to master the difference between wants and needs, effective decision making, opportunity costs, the relationship between income and jobs, budgeting and goal setting, banks and banking, types of credit and using credit cards, credit history and reports, saving and investing, protecting their assets, and understanding their taxes. Successfully transitioning youth to adolescence (stya)/nys dept. Of health: services provided using a youth development, strength-based approach for young people ages 9 thru 12. Stya promotes such developmental assets as positive family communication; adult role models; creative activities; motivation to do well in school; healthy lifestyle; planning and decision making; resistance skills; a positive view of one's personal future; responsibility; self-esteem; and sense of purpose. Approximately 20-25 young people participate in this program monthly, and benefit from the activities, field trips and relationships built with their mentors. Culture for one (cfo): cfo works to inspire foster care youth by providing cultural experiences and exposure to a broader world. Through these opportunities we are improving outcomes for these most vulnerable youth, and for some, changing their trajectories forever. Access to the arts is provided to stimulate a child's intellectual development. To date, cfo has taken over 1,000 children on more than 150 different cultural excursions.