Family School has been an important part of Family Support Services from the agency’s inception in 1976. Our vision for the program has never changed; we still work to decrease the risk of child abuse and neglect by providing a place where parents can learn about their children’s needs and acquire positive parenting techniques. We target young parents, with children, ages birth to five years-old, because unhealthy behaviors are not so firmly entrenched they cannot be changed.

Family School's mission is to create a multidisciplinary service environment that increases the awareness of families' needs, strengths, and limitations, by teaching how child development impacts child behavior and teaching parents how to replace harmful behaviors with nurturing ones.

Philadelphia parents attend Family School with their young children two days a week from 9 am -2 pm. A multi-disciplinary team of early childhood teachers, social workers and parenting educators work together with families to address the challenges of raising young children. Infants and children are enrolled in developmentally appropriate classrooms for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, while their parents attend morning and afternoon parenting workshops. During the course of the day, under the guidance of parenting educators, teachers, and staff, parents and children participate in shared activities that encourage attachment and reinforce positive parenting techniques.

As shared meals are integral to family success, Family School provides breakfast, lunch and snacks to support the Food & Nutrition portion of our parenting program. The meals for this program are funded through a grant from the Helen D. Groome Beatty Trust, a Mellon Mid-Atlantic Charitable Trust. Nurse Consultants present health education workshops to parents and monitor well-child care status.

Family School works to ensure children meet their developmental benchmarks. All infants and children are screened to assess their mental & physical growth and are referred to Childlink for Early Intervention services when appropriate. Family School staff-members coordinate with the Penn Early Childhood Program to access speech, physical and occupational therapists or Early Intervention specialists to ensure children progress developmentally. Each family is assigned a social worker who reinforces new parenting techniques in the home, and helps the family access community resources.

The Helen D. Groome Beatty Trust, a Mellon Mid-Atlantic Charitable Trust, is also funding SocialSolutions software infrastructure upgrades to help FSS social workers better log and track Family School and child welfare case loads.

All families are referred to the Family School program by the Philadelphia Department of Human Services (DHS), Child Protective Services. Our program supports reunification of families with children in foster care when possible. Primary funding is provided by the Philadelphia Department of Human Services.

Family School is located at 5322 Woodland Avenue, Philadelphia 19143. To contact us please email childwelfare@FSSinc.org.