Jewish Family & Children's Service

Results: JFCS is one of the largest and most comprehensive providers of outpatient behavioral health and child welfare services in Arizona, caring for 50% of the foster care children in Maricopa County referred to behavioral health system providers by the Arizona Department of Child Safety. JFSC is accredited by the Council on Accreditation in all service areas: Family Preservation & Stabilization; Counseling Support & Education Services; Domestic Violence Services; Outpatient Mental Health Services; Workforce Development & Support Services; and Youth Independent Living Services. We continually meet the highest standards of practice in all areas including cultural competency, fiscal responsibility, governance, human resources management, and quality improvement.

Target demographics: the most vulnerable populations facing family trauma, mental illness, domestic violence, challenging financial circumstances, and other serious behavioral, physical, and social obstacles.

Direct beneficiaries per year: nearly 42,000 individuals in the Greater Phoenix Metro Area, 70% are children and 97% live at or below the federal poverty level.

Geographic areas served: Maricopa County

Programs: JFCS focuses on four core service areas: Behavioral Health, Child & Family Solutions, Older Adults and Jewish Community Services. Highlighted below are services provided within the core areas: Integrated Care/ Behavioral Health and Primary Care: JFCS Behavioral Health clinics (Phoenix/Maryvale, Glendale, Mesa, Avondale/West Valley) and JFCS community-based outreach served 20,198 people in 2017. Through outpatient behavioral health services, we help teens and adults work through substance abuse or depression, coordinate care for elders, counsel teens leaving foster care, and provide therapy for young children. Integrated Healthcare Centers in Phoenix/Maryvale and Glendale are designed specifically to offer primary medical and behavioral health services where clients are treated by a collaborative team of therapists, clinicians, medical doctors, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and other healthcare professionals. The patient team shares treatment information electronically, which provides multiple pathways to determine the best course of action for each person’s health. The coordinated care efforts of this multidisciplinary team means that every aspect of a client’s well-being is serviced in one convenient location including an onsite pharmacy with same day service and a laboratory for tests ordered by the doctor. Child & Family Solutions: Serving 17,104 people in 2017, Child & Family Solutions offers a first line of defense against the cycle of violence, abuse, neglect and conflict. We address the needs of individuals and families in crisis situations - children being removed from the home due to neglect; social and emotional issues affecting children, youth and families; youth aging out of foster care with limited education and workforce skill sets; and domestic violence victims served outside of crisis shelters. JFSC’ Homebased Services partners with Arizona Department of Child Safety to assess the risk of violence or abuse in the home, provide parent coaching, therapy and support for children, family preservation and reunification plans. Shelter Without Walls offers comprehensive services to address the unmet needs of domestic violence survivors (female and male) and their children who are living outside of shelter settings. Real World Job Development uses practical strategies to enable vulnerable foster care and former foster care youth to successfully navigate the transition to independent living with an online high school for credit recovery, high school equivalency exam preparation and tutoring; skill attainment training; work readiness; job placement; leadership development; counseling; case management; supportive services; and mentoring. Creating Peaceful Families, a school- and community-based prevention and intervention program, addresses the early signs of social, psychological, and emotional needs of children and their caregivers before they encounter a traumatic experience that negatively affects healthy development and well-being. Older Adult Services: In 2017, JFCS served 785 individuals with a focus on the physical and emotional well-being of people over 60 as well as people with disabilities. Services include comprehensive in-home supports, counseling, case management, advocacy and referral to appropriate resources to help older adults strengthen support systems, improve emotional health and develop community connections. The Center for Senior Enrichment in Central Phoenix offers education, health and wellness programs, nutritious lunches, cultural outings, and a wide variety of community resources. Creative Aging, a 30-week series of sequential, participatory arts workshops designed to engage Seniors in arts-based learning, promote social engagement, and increase quality of life. Memory Café: A safe socialization setting for those with changes in their thinking, memory, and/or mild cognitive impairment and their care partners with workshops involving creative arts, such as music, dance, poetry, visual arts, and art education as these draw upon aspects of cognitive functioning that are affected last and least by most conditions causing dementia. Jewish Community Services: While JFCS’ focus has shifted over the years to meet the needs of a diverse community, our commitment to providing social services to people of Jewish faith has remained constant. In 2017, we touched the lives of 8,776 individuals, offering a continuum of culturally-sensitive services for strengthening individual and family Jewish life. Services include crisis and response team training, parenting groups, small group discussions, and individual, group or family crisis interventions/counseling; career services; holiday programs; emergency assistance; Holocaust Survivor Services; Hospital Chaplaincy; Senior Concierge to connect our older adult population to programs and services they need and want. JFCS is uniquely situated and qualified to meet the complex needs of families and youth facing behavioral health challenges in Maricopa County with the continuum of services provided by our Behavioral Health and Child & Family Solutions divisions. We care for fifty (50) percent of the foster care children in Maricopa County referred to behavioral health system providers by the Arizona Department of Child Safety (ADCS). JFCS’ Homebased Services have operated in partnership with ADCS for over 35 years with our Family Preservation (In-Home) Services, Parent Aide, Supervised Visitation, and Family Reunification contracts. JFCS Michael R. Zent Healthcare Center is designated as a Family Center of Excellence by Mercy Maricopa Integrated Care, a part of the Mercy 360 Community Reinvestment Plan. In partnership with Maricopa Integrated Health System to strengthen the Maryvale community, we provide integrated care services, resources, and supports that enhance resiliency, safety, and promote permanence for children and families involved with the ADCS. JFCS coordinates behavioral health services for ADCS-involved children and youth that includes specialty care in the areas of trauma-informed care and autism spectrum disorder. JFCS is particularly experienced in conducting trauma assessments for very young children (ages birth to five). JFCS has well-established track records of program innovation and adapting services to meet community needs. We have co-located behavioral health clinicians in six Maricopa County ADCS offices in Avondale, Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, Phoenix, and Tempe as a collaborative effort which provides behavioral health assessment, recommendations, and immediate access to the behavioral health system for ADCS involved children and families. JFCS is a partner in a collaborative project in the ADCS Gilbert office together with the Family Involvement Center. This unique project utilizes peer support services to engage biological parents as quickly as possible after children are removed from the home in order to facilitate parental support and early engagement in services. The goal is to shorten length of stay in foster care by quickly engaging biological parents with a Family Support Partner so that acceptance and service engagement can happen more quickly, parents have a peer support, and move more rapidly through behavior change. For foster care youth, we hold the space in the community with our Real World Job Development program for working with disconnected foster care youth in providing education and career pathways. JFCS is a Re-Engagement Center for the Opportunities for Youth Reengagement Cohort #1 as authorized by the Opportunity for Youth Leadership Council. JFCS’ Shelter Without Walls was the first program in Arizona targeting community-based domestic violence services for women and men. The 2008 program launch set the stage for other domestic violence providers throughout Arizona to offer mobile services in recent years. JFCS received the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities 2017 Alliance Commitments - Nonprofit Talent Pipeline Award for the JFCS Leadership Academy. Launched in March 2016, the JFCS Leadership Academy is a structured, challenging and supportive opportunity to train and develop emerging leaders, support innovation and to create sustainability within our changing healthcare environment. The JFCS Leadership Academy was the subject of the February 21, 2018 episode of the Leadership Matters radio program on Voice of America.