Family Empowerment Services (FES)

Intercultural continues as a provider of Family Empowerment Services (FES) through a contract with the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services (DHS). The program provides 90-day case management services on a voluntary basis for families and children under the age of 18 years old. FES case managers provide bi-monthly home visits to promote family stability and well-being, enhance protective factors, reduce family risk factors, increase community supportive networks/linkages and increase a family’s ability to address their own needs.

Truancy Prevention Services (TPS) is the newest program to Intercultural. The program allows identification of children in need of services before they have the ten (10) absences that put them at risk for Regional Truancy Court. The overall purpose of this approach is to provide social service support to solve child and family issues before they evolve to situations warranting truancy court or family court, which could result in the placement of children in foster care or delinquent facilities.

The goals are to prevent children/families from entering the court system or to decrease time spent in the court system by early intervention to strengthen family supports that will lead to improvements in academic performance and attendance. Also, advocating and providing case management services for children who have (ten) 10 or more unexcused absences and are involved in Regional Truancy Court or Family Court.