2007 Accomplishments 

2006 Accomplishments 

• Home and Community Based Waiver Services (Office of Mental Health) have expanded to serve youth and families in Cortland, Madison, and Wayne Counties.

• The Rochester City School District selected Hillside Children's Center to establish a new wellness center at the City's School No. 2.

• A Basic Center Grant for $100,000 was awarded to Hillside Children's Center's Alternatives for Independent Youth [AIY] team to provide emergency housing and crisis counseling services.

• The Chestnut Ridge Individual Residential Alternative [IRA] group home in Orchard Park opened at the end of September for six girls. Another new IRA was also approved for five boys in Macedon, New York.

• AdoptMent, a new mentoring program at Hillside Children's Center, has been established to match adults, who were adopted, with teens who are transitioning to adoption.

• Specialized Services at Hillside Children's Center's Varick Campus has experienced increased customer satisfaction levels. In a letter, a grandmother of one of the youth, served by the service, commended staff for the work that has been done with her grandson. "Each staff person who accompanied us at the Hillside program was very respectful and supported the family visit with nice things to say about my grandson. I truly believe my grandson is on his way to recovering and I truly credit this to Hillside staff."

• The City of Rochester selected Hillside Children's Center's East Main Street AIY site as the location for the City's new Curfew Center.

• An Adoption Incentive Award for $20,000 was awarded to Hillside Children's Center's Erie Team due to its proficiency in finding permanent homes for youth.

• Developmental Abilities Services was added to Hillside Children's Center's services array providing another residential option for families of youth dually diagnosed with both developmental disabilities and mental health challenges.

• Further reinforcing the benefits to families of a system of care, Hillside Children's Center established medical services for youth at Snell Farm Children's Center.

2005 Accomplishments 

• Awarded $275,000 for the delivery of post-adoption services in Erie, Niagara, and Monroe counties.

• 3 new Individual Residential Alternatives for Youth with developmental disabilities are in development and will open in 2006.

• With the addition of a new campus in Varick NY, HCC has grown by 122beds, 4 services, and over 320 staff members. New services include specialized residential treatment, critical care, and developmental disabilities services.

• Outcomes from HCC’s Oswego Youth and Families Come First (YFCF) Program, which was implemented in September 2003,  have proven its success in serving families:

•87% of youth enrolled for 60 days or more remained in the community and were successfully diverted from placement.

•Improvement in family functioning was noted through an average 40-pointdecrease in Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scores (CAFAS).

•Families showed significant gains in their support systems and all families have at a minimum expanded their circle of support through development of the child/family team.

YFCF targets youth who are at risk of residential placement and utilizes a strength-based, parent-driven approach to keep the youth in his/her community.

• Now fully operational in Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) model delivery, HCC’s Finger Lakes Campus received a congratulatory letter from the New York State PBIS Central Region Specialist regarding the outcome of its school-wide evaluation tool survey. FLC received the status of an “80/80 PBIS school,” which is held for the top functioning school programs both state-wide and nationally.

• Central New York United Way funded its first Hillside Children’s Center program in the Central Region this year by allocating $50,000 to its customized community-based services program. This program provides targeted skills to children and their families to assist children in remaining at home with their families.

• New York State Senator Volker secured a grant for $60,000 (requiring a $20,000 match) for Youth Court services in Livingston County.

• Over $100,000 in funding was received to begin offering a parenting skills training and supervised visitation program in Niagara County.

• A merger with Adoption Resource Network has prompted new initiatives within adoption service delivery including revitalization of international/private adoption services, as well as a new focus on the permanency planning and adoption of youth from the foster care system.

• Residential services on HCC’s Monroe Campus have been positively affected by renovations to site buildings. Two units have moved into completely renovated residential treatment facilities, allowing for better line of sight for supervision and each child to have his/her own bedroom.

2004 Accomplishments ·      

• With a total of 22 youth adopted this year, Hillside Children’s Center’s Western Region had a record number of adoptions finalized on youth from its therapeutic foster care services. 

• Implementation of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) initiative has expanded to include HCC residential campuses in Auburn and Rochester. PBIS has been successfully continued at HCC’s Halpern Education Center, where it was implemented in 2002.

• The staff turnover rate continues to decrease, with a 22.9% decrease in the 2003-04 average turnover rate for all positions as compared to last year.

• In July 2003, HCC’s Fingerlakes Campus celebrated its ten-year anniversary. Since its opening in 1993, over 240 families have been served at this 62-bed campus, which provides both residential treatment and juvenile justice services.

• The Oswego Youth and Families Come First Program, which was implemented in September 2003, has the capacity to provide services to 20 families at any given time. This service targets youth who are at risk of residential placement and utilizes a strength-based, parent-driven approach to keep the youth in his/her community.  Flexible funding is also available for the youth/family to help meet basic needs and informal community supports are an integral part of the youth’s experience. 

• A new school-based service was established at Geneseo Central Schools in September 2003. A collaborative effort between Hillside Children’s Center, Livingston County Mental Health Services, and the Geneseo School District, school-based solutions serves youth who have emotional challenges and/or other behavioral and emotional needs by providing a quality education, along with the behavioral interventions, supports, and social work services to allow them to remain in their home school district.

• Hillside Children’s Center received a new three-year grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services to provide Street Outreach Services and a Drop-In Center for Runaway/Homeless Youth.  This $300,000 grant allows Hillside Children’s Center to continue its Drop-In Center, which is located on East Main Street in Rochester, and to continue outreach efforts at the Monroe County Jail, which targets young people who are incarcerated to help them establish stable living arrangements upon their release. Last year, almost 2,000 encounters were made with runaway/homeless youth, including 990 youth visits to the Drop-In Center and help provided to 83 men at the Monroe County Jail.

2003 Accomplishments 

• Overall satisfaction of families with Hillside Children's Center services was 88%. 97% felt that staff respected family’s customs and values; 89% felt services were strength based; and 92% of families surveyed attended treatment conferences and participated in service planning.

• Partnerships with families have increased resulting in parents having a growing influence on agency policies and procedures. Parents have also increasingly been invited to be members of agency roundtables and boards.

• Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), which is a service delivery methodology emphasizing rewarding students who practice positive behavior, rather than punishing students who exhibit negative behavior, completed its first year pilot at Halpern Education Center. Successful implementation resulted in a reduction in students’ disruptive behavior and an increase in classroom learning. Halpern Education Center received a $15,000 grant from the Office of Mental health to pioneer PBIS/Wraparound services.

• All families were linked with a family service primary upon admission to services. Service modifications have resulted in a reduction in service lengths of stay to 9.5 months. Over half of the clients discharged this past year showed a 20 point improvement in their CAFAS (Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale) scores.

• Increased focus on and training in foster care permanency planning resulted in an increase in the number of freed children being adopted agency wide.

• Staff turnover rates have led to stabilization in HCC’s workforce. Teacher turnover rates have been greatly reduced. Turnover for social workers has not increased.

• A pilot project at Halpern Day Treatment Program called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) was implemented. Designed to teach and reinforce positive behavior and integrate wraparound services, PBIS is anticipated to improve services to children and families and increase parental participation in services. Critical elements of the program include achieving outcomes valued by a variety of stakeholders, including family; using data-based methods and decision-making with input from stakeholders; and developing processes, structures, and routines essential to achieving the desired outcomes.

• The United States Department of Health and Human Services awarded Hillside Children’s Center the Basic Center Grant providing $100,000 a year for a total of three years in support of 180 youths in need of crisis counseling and emergency housing in Monroe and Tompkins Counties.

• The United States Department of Health and Human Services also awarded Hillside Children’s Center the Transitional Living Program grant providing $250,000 a year for a total of five years in support of a newly remodeled group home in Rochester that houses 12 youths a year. An additional 150 youths will be served in group training aimed at increasing their independent living skills.

• Hillside Children’s Center’s Livingston County Youth Court program received $40,000 in funding from New York Criminal Justice Services to provide a peer-based alternative to the traditional arrest and judicial process for nonviolent offenders under the age of 17.