Project Description:
TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) is a government program that supports and trains parents as they attempt to move from welfare programs into the workforce. Sites throughout the Bronx provide vocational and educational services as well as parenting groups, medical care, nutritional assessments and daycare for children of welfare parents going through drug rehabilitation. The Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC) recently restarted an outreach program to help children of TANF families receive assessments and interventions for developmental delays, school, behavioral and psychiatric problems.
It is often difficult for TANF families to visit outlying clinics or find time for additional medical visits. Many do not know that services such as those offered through CERC or outside programs like Early Intervention are available. The CERC mobile team visits two different TANF centers where families are regularly seen. Both of these sites have daycare programs, allowing CERC staff to see parents and children together. The Mobile Team hopes to facilitate early detection of developmental and behavioral issues by making evaluations easier for families to complete.
Dr. Mark Bertin, a CERC pediatrician, visits TANF weekly for patient screening and evaluation. Beginning in February, Juliane Stoecker, a speech therapist, will also be part of the Mobile Team. Claudia Aguilar, a social work case aide, helps provide case management services for individual children, coordinating any further evaluations that might be needed and referring for therapy through Early Intervention, local agencies and schools. Additionally, once a patient base has been established speech-language therapy groups are planned at TANF sites. Psychology, audiology, physiatry, occupational and physical therapy evaluations are available at the CERC Fisher Landau center.
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas, Urban, Specific Groups
