Bronx Times reports the recent Bronx “No Hit Zone” campaign, spearheaded by Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and community leaders including Dr. Mel Schneiderman, Aenior Vice President of The Foundling’s Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection. As part of the campaign, a variety of stores in the area known as the Hub—where East 149thStreet, Willis Avenue and Third Avenue meet—have agreed to be designated “No Hit Zones.”
The Bronx District Attorney’s Office has announced a new “No Hit Zone” awareness campaign to help reduce child abuse in the borough.
As Dr. Mel Schneiderman, Senior Vice President of our Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection stated in the press release, “The New York Foundling is thrilled to participate in the No Hit Zone initiative and commends the Bronx DA’s office in their efforts to create an environment of safety for children and families. The New York Foundling has been dedicated to protecting and supporting New York’s children for over 150 years. Through our Fontana Center for Child Protection, we work tirelessly to reduce child maltreatment, and are involved with many local and national efforts to reduce the reliance on and use of corporal punishment. We are proud to partner with other agencies and offices across the city to work toward this mission.”
Nandini Ahuja, MSW, a licensed therapist in our School Based Mental Health program, discusses the long-term mental health impacts that the past year may have on young people in our community.
“Since March 2020, my colleagues and I have worked day and night in partnership with parents, teachers, principals, medical experts, caregivers, and other trusted leaders to make sure students stay afloat. And what I can say is this: every adolescent and young adult has felt the negative and harsh impact of this horrific pandemic, and regardless of how they have coped for the last 12 months, they will face further challenges in their return to normalcy, whatever that may look like,” she writes.
Ruth Gerson, MD – Senior Vice President of Mental Health Services at The Foundling – was named one of City & State’s 2021 Nonprofit 40 Under 40 Rising Stars!
Read about her successes below:
After working in the children’s psychiatric emergency room at New York University Langone Health for many years, Ruth Gerson says she transitioned to The New York Foundling because she wanted to prevent the kinds of crises that were landing kids in the emergency room.
When she joined The New York Foundling, Gerson started out supervising the psychiatric services for children in foster care and has since helped oversee the organization’s clinic in East Harlem that provides resources for children not in foster care as well.
“It’s not just ‘Come into my office for 45 minutes a week and I will support your child.’ It’s let me support the whole system that’s surrounding you and all of the places that you go,” says Gerson, who describes the organization’s approach as holistic.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Gerson says The New York Foundling has expanded its grief services and provided more services available directly within the community.
“We went from being an organization that had done almost no telehealth, to providing almost all of our services via telehealth in an incredibly short amount of time,” Gerson says.
Outside of her work with The New York Foundling, Gerson has co-edited two books, “Beyond PTSD: Helping and Healing Teens Exposed to Trauma,” and “Helping Kids in Crisis: Managing Psychiatric Emergencies in Children and Adolescents.” Gerson also teaches at NYU School of Medicine, where she is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
The New York Foundling was awarded contracts by the NYC Administration for Children’s Services to operate services within its Family Assessment Program, beginning July 1, 2021. We are proud to partner with ACS in providing support to families in our community, and to add our voice to the press release below:
ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN’S SERVICES ANNOUNCES AWARDS SELECTED TO OPERATE ITS ‘FAMILY ASSESSMENT PROGRAM’
ACS “Family Assessment Program” Provides Support to Families With Young People In Crisis, Including: Truancy, Substance Misuse, Behavioral Challenges & Others
NEW YORK, NY – The New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) today announced the organizations selected for awards to operate the Family Assessment Program (FAP). FAP provides support and interventions to families with youth who are at risk of out-of-home placement and present with behavioral challenges, such as: truancy, antisocial or criminal activities, substance misuse and other behavioral and mental health challenges. Each year, FAP serves approximately 3,500 families.
ACS selected five organizations for fifteen contracts: Children’s Aid, The Children’s Village, Community Mediation Services, JBFCS and New York Foundling.
“We understand the many challenges parents face when raising teenagers, and we want to be sure they receive the support they need to address adolescent behaviors,” said ACS Commissioner David A. Hansell. “Through the many services and supports, the Family Assessment Program helps to strengthen and further improve the lives of New York City’s families. These efforts – especially during the pandemic – are part of our mission to help families stay safely together.”
“Keeping teenagers at home, with family or with adults who love them, in school and engaged in community is the right approach,” said President and Chief Executive Officer at The Children’s Village, Jeremy Christopher Kohomban, Ph.D. “We are thrilled to partner with ACS in this very important effort.”
“Today’s teens are facing myriad challenges brought upon by the pandemic and remote learning, compounded by the impact of racial injustice that youth and families of color, particularly Black male teens, routinely face.” said Executive Vice President at Children’s Aid, Georgia Boothe. “Through the Family Assessment Program, we can bring much-needed crisis intervention strategies and family therapy to support teens by addressing trauma, preventing truancy, reducing and preventing involvement in the justice system, as well as increasing family communication and functioning. We are proud to partner with ACS in this work to ensure we can help youth and families learn and grow.”
“The New York Foundling is proud to provide evidenced-based preventive services to communities across the city as part of the Family Assessment Program,” said Senior Vice President of Child Welfare and Behavioral Health at The New York Foundling, Shannon Ghramm-Smith. “These services will ultimately decrease the family to child welfare pipeline, and the juvenile justice to criminal legal system pipeline. We look forward to working with ACS as we partner together through and beyond the pandemic, and will continue to think critically on innovative approaches to service delivery and continuing efforts to broaden tele-health and tele-care into our work.”
FAP plays a key role in fulfilling ACS’ ongoing commitment to improving outcomes for adolescents by connecting youth and families to appropriate interventions in times of crisis. ACS implemented FAP in 2002 to divert adolescents at risk of out-of-home placement through Family Court via the Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS) process. FAP and the providers of these services work to resolve crises, stabilize families, and connect youth to the support they need. They also offer caregivers the skills and tools they need to provide the guidance and structure that promote adolescent success. FAP has significantly reduced the number of youth entering foster care via the PINS process. In 2019, FAP prevented a PINS foster care placement for 98% of the families served. Approximately, 3,500 families accessed the FAP program and only 70 youth entered foster care through the PINS process.
Families who engage with FAP have youth that are generally between the ages of 11 and 18 years old, with the majority between the ages of 14 and 17. Some youth may have previous involvement with the juvenile justice system; and many may face several challenges, including truancy, illegal substance use, curfew noncompliance, negative behavior among peers, mental health concerns and absence without permission. In many instances, parents may need support in order to strengthen their ability to manage adolescents who are presenting with challenging behaviors, including their capacity to provide appropriate supervision and discipline.
The recently announced awards for FAP programs offer a continuum of service interventions targeted for families. The models procured in the current FAP Request for Proposals include:
In addition to the recently procured models, the FAP program also continues to provide the Mentoring and Advocacy Program (MAAP) and Respite care. MAAP is an individualized strength and advocacy-based program that provides wraparound supports for youth between the ages of 12 and 18. Each youth is matched with a mentor whose focus is to provide guidance in developing better self-esteem, creating healthy relationships and making positive life choices. Respite Care is a non-mandated program where a family agrees to engage in services while the youth is temporarily placed in a foster home for 21 days.
ACS is committed to delivering services in a socially just and culturally competent manner. As part of the award process, the organizations selected to deliver FAP services are required to implement strategies to address equity. For instance, strategies may include: establishing a racial equity committee within the organization, conducting ongoing assessments of equity, developing strategies to address equity in hiring practices and more. Organizations are also required to adhere to ACS’ policies regarding the equitable and sensitive treatment of Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth and their families. Additionally, services through FAP are provided through staff who are responsive to the culture and character of the population served and are fluent in the languages spoken by participating youth and family members. Staff are also trained in balancing the task of delivering information to families while being responsive to their cultural beliefs and immediate circumstances.
For more information or to learn about the FAP services go to Family Assessment Program.
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On local television channel BronxNet’s Bronx Social Justice and Anti-Violence Forums, our CEO and President Bill Baccaglini sat down with host Daren Jaime to discuss The Foundling’s juvenile justice and mental health programs. Watch the interview below:
In a new Gothamist article, Dr. Ruth Gerson, The Foundling’s Senior Vice President for Mental Health Services, discusses the ongoing trauma that young students are facing as a result of the pandemic. One year in, young people continue to find it difficult to cope with the disruption, isolation, and stress that school shutdowns have brought on. “It can be very hard to have the psychological distance from it to try to unpack it and really do evidence-based trauma treatment,” she says.
In a press release, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. announced that beginning today, the non-profit organization The New York Foundling is supporting survivors of sex trafficking through its new child and youth sex trafficking intervention program, “the Phoenix Project.” The innovative program will serve approximately 50 to 70 young people ages 12 through 21 each year at locations across New York City.
Staten Island Advance recently profiled the work of our Staten Island Community Partnership, which has worked to address acute community needs that have arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Initiatives over the past few months have included food distribution, laundry cards, funds for necessities, a school supply drive, and even fun events for families.
“I know we have had a meaningful impact through our outreach and initiatives by the positive responses from residents. They have expressed such heartfelt gratitude when we connect that it brings both a smile and a tear to our faces. Just the idea that we are helping to feed dozens of families each week is so rewarding and we are so pleased that we can continue the food pantry through the Spring,” says director Chris Dowling.
In Generosity’s recent article on employment for people with disabilities in Philadelphia, reporter Jaya Montague looks at New York City’s workforce development efforts as a potential model. The article contains insights from The Foundling’s Mia Guidel-Joshi, who shares how “the climate of workforce development for people with disabilities in New York City is very collaborative.”
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