Program areas at Children's Aid
The child welfare and family services ("cwfs") division promotes child and family stability through a range of programs. We find high-quality, loving homes for children placed in foster care and support parents seeking to reunify with their children. Home-based services are provided for children at risk of foster care placement. Our family wellness program offers comprehensive services to families impacted by domestic violence. (continued on schedule o)child welfare and family services (continued)cwfs is The home for our preventive programs, foster care services, and homemaker services, in addition to our domestic violence prevention programs, services for disconnected youth, and our office of client advocacy. The office of client advocacy helps stabilize low-income families through legal advocacy and emergency material assistance. The next generation center supports teens and young adults, particularly those aging out of foster care, in their transition to adulthood. Examples of our success include that 98% of families who received one of our family crisis interventions avoided foster care placements in fiscal year 2022. Further, 203 children were permanently reunified with their birth parents or moved into permanent foster, kinship foster, and adoptive homes.
The health and wellness division provides high-quality services that reduce health disparities among children and families living in poverty, including comprehensive medical, mental health, and dental services delivered by pediatricians, nurse practitioners, social workers, psychiatrists, dentists, health educators, medical assistants, and other support staff. Specialized programs also provide care coordination and educate children and families about The benefits of healthy living through diet, nutrition, and exercise. (continued on schedule o)health and wellness (continued)when medical care is convenient and accessible, more children live healthier lives. Children's Aid provides medical, reproductive, mental health, dental, and health education services in six school-based and two community-based health centers. Health services are tailored to meet The special needs of children and adolescents, and The division specializes in providing health care to children in foster care.an example of The division's specific impact is that 93% of children ages 3-7 receiving medical care in our community health centers had a well-child visit. Overall 50,000 medical, dental, sexual, and mental health appointments were provided to children and youth. Our health and wellness division provided 30,382 nutritional food boxes to children and their families as part of or our go-healthy kids and go chefs program last year.
The youth division focuses on ages 5 to adolescence/young adult and promotes physical, social, and emotional well-being as key factors for high school graduation and college success. Youth programs operate in Children's Aid locations and in full-service community school partnerships, and engage children, families, schools and communities through an integrated focus on academics, services, supports, and opportunities. (continued on schedule o) youth (continued)core services include out-of-school time programs in Children's Aid community centers and schools, summer camps, athletic programming, and through The national center for community schools, which provides technical assistance to develop The community school model nationally and internationally. Our older youth services include The carrera-adolescent pregnancy prevention program, which meets The top-tier evidence of effectiveness standards by The coalition for evidence-based policy. Services also include The excel college support program providing assistance to help young people enter and complete college, The hope leadership academy, which provides wrap-around supports and develops leadership through a peer education model, and teen employment services, such as summer youth employment program and corporate internships. We provide our scholars with college prep and post-secondary support. Parents and caregivers are engaged every step of The way because we know they are key to a student's success. 97% of youth in our targeted programs who applied to college were accepted to at least one school.we support youth through programs at eighteen community schools, five community centers, our wagon road respite camp in chappaqua, new york and a range of college and career services for youth aged 18 to 22. The youth division also provides management and technical support to The Children's Aid college prep charter school, a k-8 charter school with approximately 600 enrolled scholars.
Early childhoodthe early childhood division prepares young children (ages 0 to 5) for school success by working with families to advance Children's physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development and to instill in them a lifelong love of learning. Some of The programming includes head-start programs, pre-k and 3-k offerings. Core services include home-based and center-based programs that feature research-based curricula, low child-to-teacher ratios, and strong parent engagement. Our early childhood division has ten early childhood sites serving nearly 900 children. An example of our impact is that 91% of children in our early childhood program met or exceeded The cognition school readiness goal by The end of The school year.
Collective impact & The national center for community schoolsthe national center for community schools offers technical assistance in all aspects of designing, implementing, and sustaining community schools to meet The unique needs and strengths of individual communities. Services are targeted to individual schools, school board and district administrators, funders, education reform leaders, community organizations, and others through facilitated planning, consultation, workshops and ongoing support.since 1994, The national center has provided technical assistance to nearly all major national and international community school initiatives. Via customized training, consultation, facilitation, publications, and advocacy, we help build The capacity of schools, districts, community partners, and government agencies to organize their human and financial resources around student success.