Government & Community Affairs

Community Connections >
Part 5, Health and Social Services >

Family Preservation Services

• Central Harlem Family Preservation
  
  Yvonne Thornton,
  Director of Central Harlem and Washington Heights
  
  127 West 127th Street
  New York, NY 10027
  
  Tel: 212-280-9526
  Fax: 212-280-9528
  
  Hours: Monday through Friday:
  8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
  
  Services: Central Harlem Family Preservation offers services that keep children home and families united.



• Harlem Dowling West Side Center for Children & Family Services
  
  Melber Buttler,
  Executive Director
  
  2090 Seventh Avenue
  New York, NY 10027
  
  Tel: 212-749-3656
  Fax: 212-678-1094
  
  Website: www.harlemdowling.org
  
  Hours: Monday through Friday:
  8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
  
  Servcices: As a not-for-profit child-welfare agency, the mission of Harlem Dowling West Side Center for Children and Family Services is to serve and assist children and their families in crisis and distress. Services include foster care, adoption, preventive services, and related assistance to children and their families to enable them to live in a stable and nurturing environment. The agency’s programs focus on serving children and their families living in the communities in which the agency operates.



• Salem Community Service Council
  
  Mark Skeete,
  Executive Director
  
  211 West 129th Street
  New York, NY 10027
  
  Tel: 212-866-3914
  Fax: 212-316-5849
  
  Hours: Monday through Friday:
  9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  
  Services: The Salem Community Service Council offers a group day care program, home care to Medicare eligible individuals, summer camp, and a year round after school program.



• St. Christopher’s Inc.
  
  Dr. Maribel Garcia-Soto,
  Director
  
  690 Amsterdam Avenue
  New York, NY 10025
  
  Tel: 212-865-4104
  Fax: 212-864-5375
  
  Website: www.stchristophersinc.com
  
  Hours: Monday through Friday:
  9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  
  Services: St. Christopher’s, Inc. is a nonprofit, non-sectarian agency that has served children and families in need since 1881. Through the development and expansion of many programs, the agency is able to care for a wide population with a variety of comprehensive services. When parents have encountered problems they cannot handle, which jeopardize their children’s well being, St. Christopher’s is there to help them rediscover their strengths and provide them with a complete support system. Families come to St. Christopher’s for a variety of reasons:
  
  
  • To obtain affordable medical care;
  
  
  
  • To learn parenting skills;
  
  
  
  • To receive treatment for a substance abuse problem;
  
  
  
  • To get connected to a system of support services; and
  
  
  
  • To receive temporary care for their children while difficulties are addressed.
  
  
  
  
  A wide range of difficulties can cause children to be placed in care. Foster and residential care is available:
  
  
  • To help parents recover from or cope with a temporary or chronic illness;
  
  
  
  • To help resolve family conflicts or problems;
  
  
  
  • To deal with a parent’s employment difficulties;
  
  
  
  • To overcome drug or alcohol addictions of a child or his/her family; and
  
  
  
  • To help children who exhibit individual problems to grow and develop physically, emotionally and intellectually.
  
  
  



• Teenage Services Act
  
  John Bess,
  Chief Executive Officer
  
  215 West 114th Street
  New York, NY 10026
  
  Tel: 212-348-0304
  Fax: 212-932-7959
  
  Hours: Monday through Friday:
  9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  
  Services: Teenage Services Act offers teenage mothers job placement, childcare, counseling, and pregnancy prevention services.



• University Settlement Society
  
  

Elissa Ramos, LMSW
Director

• 
  
  127 West 127th Street,
  Room 438
  New York, NY 10027
  
  Tel: 212-864-2007
  Fax: 212-864-2350
  
  Website: www.universitysettlement.org
  
  Hours: Monday through Friday:
  9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  
  Services: University Settlement Society, founded in 1886, is America’s first social settlement. The Settlement assists immigrants and other low-income people with a full network of programs. These include adult literacy classes, mental health counseling, group and family day care, case management for the formerly homeless, recreational and educational activities for school children, a summer day camp, a senior center, an arts program, and a credit union. University Settlement has been recognized nationwide as a model for the delivery of comprehensive social services.