The Family & Childrens Society Inc

Causes: Adoption, Children & Youth, Family Counseling, Family Services, Human Services, In-Home Assistance

Mission: Renew hope, provide help, care and counseling. Strengthen people through all stages of life.

Programs: Fmh clinic and counseling - in 2017, the family mental health clinic continued to experience significant growth and expansion of services. Fmh clinic served 1017 new clients and 1918 total clients. There are currently 17 licensed social workers working in clinic-based programs, all of which are dedicated to either child and adolescent or adult specialties. Medication management is provided by two part-time psychiatrists and three psychiatric nurse practitioners. The agency continued to stay focused on improving work flow efficiency as well as improving access to services through same-day access protocol for intake and referrals. Clinic staff worked hard to cut wait time between intake and the next therapy appointment and wait time for psychiatry services. The school-based counseling program is funded by the new york state office of mental health (omh) with additional funds from the united way of broome county, broome county, and maine-endwell central school district. Licensed social workers provide mental health counseling at whitney point, union endicott, and maine endwell. We served 99 new clients and 151 total clients. The agency had licensed satellite clinics in johnson city central school district and windsor central school district. In addition, there is a licensed satellite clinic in east middle school in the binghamton city school district. On site availability for counseling services to students resulted in improved attendance and access for those living in rural areas.

home care services - this program offers support, comfort and helping hands to assist in providing services to individuals in their home, providing a sense of independence by helping our clients maintain a healthy lifestyle. Staff goals are to allow clients the opportunity to remain in their home as long as possible. Services are provided through a combination of well-trained certified home care aides, registered nurses and a compassionate office staff. Home care staff provided approximately 44,000 hours of service to over 500 clients. Fcs contracted with united health services and encompass (catholic charities) to provide case management services to individuals who are eligible for the health homes program. Staff linked eligible medicaid recipients to necessary medical and mental health services, preventing frequent emergency room visits or hospitalizations by making appropriate provider referrals and arranging for necessary support services. The population served is individuals with extensive service needs. The program began with five participants in 2013 and increased to 260 in 2017.

family homes for the elderly (fhe) - this program offers family-style living in private homes for elderly and/or disabled people who can no longer live independently. It is a great alternative for families struggling to manage care giving. In 2017, 40 clients were cared for in family homes. The agency strives to improve the lives of many more seniors and disabled citizens in the broome county region.

in 2017, the sexual abuse treatment program served approximately 134 clients from 60 families. This is a decrease from 169 clients from 64 families in 2016. Several staff participated in a year and half training, consultation and technical support under a learning collaborative with oklahoma university's center for child abuse and neglect. The learning collaboration was in conjunction with the nys children's alliance and the nys juvenile justice advisory group and the purpose is was bring evidenced based treatments to working with children with problematic sexual behaviors. The staff who participated in the learning collaborative reached fidelity (mastered) in the model and are working toward becoming inter agency trainers. This would allow us to train new employees within the agency/program. The sexual abuse treatment program staff have been training other professionals in the community. We have presented to the social work department at the children's home as well as, to caseworkers at the broome county department of social services. The focus of the presentations has been on topics such as the impact of trauma on children and their brain as well as, working with children with problematic sexual behaviors. Program director, jenny almanzar also presented at the nys children's alliance conference and regional juvenile justice taskforce regarding our programs for children with problematic sexual behaviors. In addition, the sexual abuse clinic which receives referrals from the children's home, crime victim's assistance center and broome county probation saw an additional 135 cases. The tioga sexual abuse treatment program staff served a total of 18 families throughout the year. This is also a decrease in referrals from 23 families in 2016.