ADOLESCENT GROUP HOMES
Three group homes in Bogota, Park Ridge, and Ridgewood (Bergen County) provide vulnerable adolescents ages 13 to 18 with 24-hour supervised residential care and treatment, as well as nurturing environments that encourage full participation in local community, civic, and religious activities.

PRE-ADOPTION TREATMENT HOMES
This innovative program helps severely traumatized children, under age 12, who are eligible for adoption, to regain their capacity to trust and love. Through intensive therapeutic residential care, boys and girls receive treatment, nurturing, and social skill training to prepare them for adoption. The homes-one for girls and one for boys-are located in Paramus and Ridgewood (Bergen County).

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TREATMENT FOSTER HOMES
Therapeutic foster care is provided to children between the ages of 4 and 18 in homes throughout New Jersey, where specially trained foster parents help them heal from their traumatic experiences so they can reach their full potential. Foster homes also provide support to teen mothers with children, so these young parents can learn to live independently one day.

BOARDER BABY FOSTER CARE

One of the few of its kind in New Jersey, this program goes beyond simply finding foster care placement for infants languishing in area hospitals. The goal is to secure a permanent home for a child. This includes working with the birth mother, identifying potential family relatives who can care for the child, seeking termination of parental rights when appropriate, and arranging for adoption. At-risk infants receive assessment and early intervention and are placed with families who are specially skilled at nurturing these children.

BABY BASICS
Formerly managed by the Bergen-Hudson Chapter of the Red Cross, the Baby Basics program was recently added to our continuum of services. Coordinated by Family Counseling Service of Ridgewood, Baby Basics is a free assistance program that provides education, support and the distribution of formula and diapers to low-income working families in Bergen County with children under 2 years old. Educational programs and workshops to promote good parenting skills are also offered.

ADOPTIVE AND FOSTER FAMILY RECRUITMENT
Matching a child with a loving, compatible adoptive or foster family is our goal. Using a variety of innovative community outreach efforts, families are identified for harder-to-place children, including older, special needs, and minority children.

PRE- AND POST-ADOPTION COUNSELING SERVICES
This program, developed in 1983 in collaboration with the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, was established to prevent adoption disruption, increase adoption finalizations, and improve adoptive family functioning.

NEW JERSEY ADOPTION RESOURCE CLEARING HOUSE (NJ·ARCH)
The New Jersey statewide one-stop adoption information and resource service, NJ·ARCH, provides adoption advocacy, support, education, information, and referral services to adoptees, adoptive and pre-adoptive families, families interested in adoption, and professionals and community members interested in adoption issues. To learn more, visit the website at www.njarch.org.

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EMPLOYMENT AND LIFE SKILLS
Mentoring: Self-esteem building-based mentoring is provided for our younger children ages 5-12, while strength-based mentoring is offered to our adolescents. Through supportive one-on-one relationships, mentors effect positive changes in our younger children's lives by building close and trusting connections. For our older children, mentors and adolescents are matched according to talents and interests.

Visions: Visions helps adolescents residing in the agency's group and treatment homes learn and retain important life skills they need to succeed, such as budgeting their money. An additional program component is a workplace mentoring program which matches adolescents with mentors in either volunteer or paid job settings at the conclusion of an 8-week employment skills training workshop.

LIFE ARTS PROGRAM
The Life Arts is designed to expose children residing in our group and treatment homes to the arts; to teach them to use the various art forms to constructively and appropriately express their ideas, feelings and fears; and to provide opportunities to perform and to receive positive recognition of their accomplishments. Professional artists teach the children art, music, dance, acting, etc.

HOST FAMILY PROGRAM
Host families provide a safe, homelike environment during seasonal vacations and breaks for youths between the ages of 17 and 21, who have graduated from the agency's residential programs and are attending college or other post-secondary education programs.

RENAISSANCE PLACE IN NEWARK (TRANSITIONAL LIVING PROGRAM)
This program offers a safe, supportive living environment and services to help homeless youth ages 18-21 make a successful transition to independence. These young adults live in an apartment and are supervised by a case manager, job coach, and overnight staff.

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FAMILY COUNSELING SERVICE
For nearly 50 years, Family Counseling Service has focused on the dynamics of human relationships, within and out of the family. All families need help from time to time as they navigate the challenges and difficulties that are part of real life. The services provided include:

• Help for families in raising healthy children, including parent education and "Baby Basics"
• Triage assessment and intervention in times of crisis and trauma
• Help with decisions regarding care for the elderly
• Guidance in coping with school problems
• Groups for children/teens that teach social and life skills
• Support for those facing loss
• Support for families enduring divorce
• Counseling and therapeutic support
• Educational workshops and support groups that provide practical solutions and help when needed
• Child Assault Prevention Programs in schools throughout Bergen County

The Turrell Child Care and Early Learning Center
The Turrell Child Care and Early Learning Center (the Center) provides high quality, curriculum based child care for approximately 200 children between the ages of two months and five years, and includes a state-certified, all day kindergarten program. The center is located at 200 Robin Road in Paramus. Recognizing that the first five years of a child's life are of paramount importance, the Center's curriculum is multi-faceted and ensures appropriate growth and development for all age groups.

In addition to being committed to the optimal early development of the children in our care, the Center is also committed to providing early intervention services to the low-income and at-risk families that we serve. Approximately half of the families benefit from subsidized childcare, without which they would not be able to work or to attend college. Results-driven intervention services make an investment in children and families before disruption and breakdown occur. The Center's staff draws upon the full range of therapeutic, counseling, and interventional services that Children's Aid and Family Services has to offer.

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For more information on any of our services please call Lyn Rumage at (201) 261-2800.