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Family Support Services
Counseling
Diversionary Case Management
EPIC Stakeholders
Fatherhood Initiative
Homeless Family Support
Parents As Teachers
Parent Education Program
Parent Truant Officers (PTOs)
Short-Term Case Management
Truancy Intervention
Counseling
Offers both family and individual counseling
for adults, adolescents and couples. Trained
counselors work with individuals, couples
and families to resolve presenting problems and
alleviate stressors. The goals of the service are
to stabilize individual and family functioning,
improve family interaction and prevent further,
more intensive intervention.
Diversionary Case Management
Provides support services to families who have
come to the attention of the Department of Human
Services (DHS). Experienced and caring social
workers provide case management services including
home visits, family meetings, case planning, referral
and linkages all with the goal of preventing abuse and
neglect and preventing further DHS involvement. The
goal is to divert families who are at-risk for abuse and
neglect from the child welfare system.
EPIC Stakeholders
The Equal Partners in Change (EPIC) process
provides an opportunity for parents, youth, community
residents, school representatives, local faith-based
organizations, block captains, law enforcement
officials, local businesses and others to identify and
address issues that may ultimately lead to truancy and
delinquency. The EPIC Coordinator, hired by CVCA,
facilitates monthly community meetings to identify
issues and discuss possible interventions. Work is
then done between meetings in committees and
smaller leadership groups all of which is geared
towards implementing community driven strategies
for reducing truancy and delinquency. The goal is to
engage as many stakeholders from the community as
possible in the work of keeping children and youth in
school and away from high risk behaviors.
Fatherhood Initiative
Provides services, which increase the parenting
skills of fathers in the Greater Norristown Area. The
focus is on fathers who are isolated from healthy role
models, and in need of talking with other fathers about
the best methods for raising healthy, happy children.
Program components include: Individual /group
support services and activities for fathers; Education
and Skills Training Opportunities; and Adult
Education, Pre-employment and Job Training.
The goal is to increase the skill and comfort level
of participating fathers so that they in turn play a
more active role in the lives of their children.
Homeless Family Support
Provides counseling to families during
periods of homelessness and transition. Trained
counselors work with parents and children who
are living in shelters and transitional housing
programs to help stabilize both the individual
family members as well as the family unit. The
goal is to provide the support each family needs
to transition to more permanent housing and to
alleviate stressors during the period of transition.
Parents As Teachers
Provides the information, support and encouragement
parents need to help their children develop
optimally during the crucial early years of life using
the nationally acclaimed Parents as Teachers (PAT)
model. Trained Family Development Specialists
provide two home visits per month to families with
children from birth through pre-K. During these
visits they provide information on child development
and bring fun, developmentally appropriate play
activities for parent and child to engage in together.
The Family Development Specialists provide developmental
screenings for each child and referrals for
support services or early intervention services as
needed. The goal is for each parent to learn how to
be the first and best teacher for their child so that each
child enters kindergarten ready and prepared to learn.
Parent Education Program
Provides parents in several distinct communities
with parent education classes and support. While
each program is tailored to the specific needs of the
community, all offer weekly classes using evidence
based parent education curricula. Trained facilitators
work with parents to increase their knowledge of and
ability to respond to the needs of their children, often
bringing parents and children together to model and
practice new strategies. The goals of the program are
to increase parental knowledge of child development,
normal developmental issues, use of positive behavior
management techniques, parent utilization of stress
reduction methods, use of positive nurturing, use
of positive discipline techniques and healthy
parent/child communication.
Parent Truant Officers (PTOs
Parent Truant Officers (PTOs) visit the
homes of students who are starting to have
unexcused absences. They speak with the
parents to find out if they know their children
have been absent and leave a copy of the
Compulsory Education Law. PTOs provide
information on how to communicate with the
school and how to access community resources
to resolve any barriers to school attendance.
The primary goal is to prevent further
unexcused absences.
Short-Term Case Management
Provides information about community
resources for families of young children
living in the greater Norristown area. Case
managers provide families with information
about housing, day care, mental health,
basic needs, counseling, parent education
programs, truancy, employment training
opportunities, community events and health
services. Families receive copies of local
resource guides. The goal of this service
is to facilitate a seamless, comprehensive,
and easily accessed network of services for
children and families. Services are provided
for up to three months.
Truancy Intervention
Provides assessment and case management
services for students identified as
having multiple unexcused school absences.
Students are referred to the Truancy
Intervention Program by the Department of
Human Services after having eight or more
unexcused school absences and whose
families have been summoned to Truancy
Court. A trained case manager works in
collaboration with each family to resolve
the various barriers to school attendance
through home and school visits, referrals and
linkages. The goal is to help each family
improve their child(ren)’s school attendance.
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