 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2014) |
Families First is a non-profit family service agency that serves the State of Georgia and assists over 40,000 children and families each year with solutions that aim to improve child well-being and family self-sufficiency. The program dates to 1890, beginning as an orphanage for homeless girls.
Since its inception in 1890, the agency has addresses community needs such as abandoned, abused and neglected children; teen pregnancy; domestic violence; poverty; health issues; homelessness and broken families. [1]
Families First's mission is to ensure the success of children in jeopardy by empowering families. The agency aims to focus on three impact areas:
Families First is a member of the Crittenton family of agencies.
Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home, or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family member approved by the state. The placement of the child is normally arranged through the government or a social service agency. The institution, group home, or foster parent is compensated for expenses unless with a family member. In some states, relative or "Kinship" caregivers of children who are wards of the state are provided with a financial stipend.
Youth empowerment is a process where children and young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. They do this by addressing their situation and then take action in order to improve their access to resources and transform their consciousness through their beliefs, values, and attitudes. Youth empowerment aims to improve quality of life. Youth empowerment is achieved through participation in youth empowerment programs. However scholars argue that children's rights implementation should go beyond learning about formal rights and procedures to give birth to a concrete experience of rights. There are numerous models that youth empowerment programs use that help youth achieve empowerment. A variety of youth empowerment initiatives are underway around the world. These programs can be through non-profit organizations, government organizations, schools or private organizations.
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It is headed by the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Children and Families. It has a $49 billion budget for 60 programs that target children, youth and families. These programs include assistance with welfare, child support enforcement, adoption assistance, foster care, child care, and child abuse. The agency employs approximately 1,700 staff, including 1,200 federal employees and 500 contractors, where 60% are based in Washington, DC, with the remaining in regional offices located in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco, Missouri and Seattle.
Supportive housing is a combination of housing and services intended as a cost-effective way to help people live more stable, productive lives, and is an active "community services and funding" stream across the United States. It was developed by different professional academics and US governmental departments that supported housing. Supportive housing is widely believed to work well for those who face the most complex challenges—individuals and families confronted with homelessness and who also have very low incomes and/or serious, persistent issues that may include substance use disorders, mental health, HIV/AIDS, chronic illness, diverse disabilities or other serious challenges to stable housing.
Kinship care is a term used in the United States and Great Britain for the raising of children by grandparents, other extended family members, and adults with whom they have a close family-like relationship such as godparents and close family friends because biological parents are unable to do so for whatever reason. Legal custody of a child may or may not be involved, and the child may be related by blood, marriage, or adoption. This arrangement is also known as "kincare" or "relative care." Kinship placement may reduce the number of home placements children experience; allow children to maintain connections to communities, schools, and family members; and increase the likelihood of eventual reunification with birth parents. It is less costly to taxpayers than formal foster care and keeps many children out of the foster care system. "Grandfamily" is a recently coined term in the United States that refers to families engaged in kinship care.
Compass Family Services is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in San Francisco, California, that provides a wide variety of human services to homeless and at-risk of homelessness families. In 2019, they served 6,000 parents and children. Its services include intake and referral to shelter, emergency shelter, transitional housing, and childcare—in addition to a broad spectrum of counseling, parenting education, prevention, and support services.
The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), is one of six Bureaus within the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services located in Rockville, Maryland.
The Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 aims to assist youth aging out of foster care in the United States in obtaining and maintaining independent living skills. Youth aging out of foster care, or transitioning out of the formal foster care system, are one of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged populations. As youth age out of the foster care system at age 18, they are expected to become self-sufficient immediately, even though on average youth in the United States are not expected to reach self-sufficiency until age 26.
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are:
Northeast Kingdom Community Action (NEKCA) is an anti-poverty community action agency that helps people in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom meet their basic needs and become self-sufficient. The agency is a partner of the Vermont Department for Children and Families and is primarily funded by federal and state government resources.
St. Ann's Center for Children, Youth and Families, formerly known as St. Ann's Infant and Maternity Home, is administered by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. It is located at 4901 Eastern Avenue in Avondale, Maryland. It provides housing and support to pregnant and parenting young women and their children, as well as quality day care to the children of working families.
Crisis accommodation is accommodation provided to people experiencing temporary or ongoing conditions of crisis with the aim of removing them from an otherwise harmful environment and allowing them to improve their situations from a safe and stable environment. Situations that may be alleviated through crisis accommodation include but are not limited to homelessness, domestic violence, elder abuse, and child abuse. Crisis accommodation is typically provided through government organisations, not-for-profit organisations and charities. Crisis accommodation is also known as housing subsidies in other words. Crisis accommodation occurs everywhere around the world across various countries. There are other factors like availability of the services and reasons like poverty and accumulation of debt that affect homelessness which needs to be taken into account in order to solve it as more people tend to look for urgent support when they are facing this crisis. Subsidising houses can be an effective way of preventing or reducing homelessness as housing is a basic right to every individual especially children. Solving this crisis can increase family reunification but they are complex than expected as the victims are mostly women and children. In the European countries, third sector organizations (NGOs) like faith-based charity do play some roles in providing temporary accommodation to the homeless. The National Survey of Homeless Assistance providers and clients in Australia stated that about thirty three percent of the homeless people are children. It is difficult to provide these services immediately as the victims are associated with no tenancy rights and their rights of occupants are generally weaker than a regular tenancy.
Project HOME is a nationally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides housing, opportunities for employment, medical care and education to homeless and low-income persons in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Families Forward is an Irvine, California based nonprofit organization founded in 1984 by a group of community members in collaboration with the City of Irvine and the Irvine Company, with the goal of providing affordable housing for homeless and at-risk families. The agency began with only five apartment units and one part-time counselor. Families Forward has grown and now has housing units across Orange County, a food pantry providing food for nearly 7,000 people per year, and offers services to prevent homelessness in Orange County, California.
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in an institution, group home, or private home of a state certified caregiver. The placement of the child is usually arranged through the government or a social-service agency. The institution, group home or foster parent is provided compensation for expenses.
Rapid Re-Housing is a relatively recent innovation in social policy that is an intervention designed to help those who are homeless. As described by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Rapid Re-Housing is a subset of the Housing First approach to end homelessness. While many Housing First programs provide rental assistance, or help clients to access rent subsidies, Rapid Re-Housing programs always provide short-term rental assistance and services, with services ending once rental assistance terminates. As with the Housing First approach, the goals are to help people obtain housing quickly, increase self-sufficiency, and remain housed. The Core Components of rapid re-housing—housing identification, rent and move-in assistance, and case management and services-operationalize Housing First principles. While Housing First programs often serve many different target populations, including youth, families with children, and the chronically homeless, Rapid Re-Housing programs generally target people with low to moderate services needs. Housing First is much broader in its approach, with program designs developed to be flexible and responsive to the complexity of human needs.
The New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS) is a New York City government agency that protects and promotes safety and the well-being of New York City's children and families by providing child welfare, juvenile justice, and early care and education services.
Womankind, formerly known as the New York Asian Women's Centre (NYAWC), was founded in 1982 by a group of volunteers led by Pat Eng. In 2017, the NYAWC changed its name to Womankind. It is a non-profit organization which aims to empower Asian survivors of gender based violence. Womankind was initially a community awareness program designed to educate families about domestic violence in Chinatown, and then developed into a 24-hour multilingual hotline that now includes 18 different Asian languages and dialects. Womankind also provides Asian immigrant women confidential services including an emergency refuge, shelter services, crisis counseling, 24-hour online free multilingual hotline, welfare promotion, support groups, parenting workshops, children's services, volunteer training, community education, and some English courses. Each year, the organization receives over 3,000 hotline calls.
