Family Service Agency of Dekalb County, Inc.

Center for Counseling serves everyone from children to seniors, and we've provided expert counseling since 1956. Whether divorce, anxiety, PTSD etc. we have counselors to meet most needs. CFC staff are a diverse group of experienced & licensed professionals who assist in times of trouble or stress.

Senior Services has been serving seniors of DeKalb since 1971. SS operates multiple area activity centers throughout the county. We provide a comprehensive program of physical and mental stimulation reinforcing dignity and self-worth.

Youth Mentoring has been strengthening the entire community by providing successful mentoring programs for all youth since 1970.

Children's Advocacy Center acts as a neutral 3rd party, coordinating services to the child & family in a child abuse investigation. The purpose of the CAC is to lessen the traumatic experience children endure. In addition, the CAC conducts community prevention & awareness presentations. CAC has been helping victims since 2004.

Community Action Program joined Family Service Agency in 2018. CAP strives to help low-income families achieve and maintain their highest level of self-sufficiency by providing a variety of programs. We have two primary purposes: to provide essential anti-poverty programs, and to advocate for the needs of low income individuals and families.

CFC - Our therapists use a variety of innovative therapy methods to meet client needs. Our clinicians are widely paneled and participate in on-going trainings. FSA is one of the only Medicaid approved providers in DeKalb County and surrounding communities. We did this at great personal time and financial strain because we know it is what is best for the community. We did not make this decision independently, or lightly. As you can see, our strategy here is to serve as many low-income clients as possible to ensure that nobody in DeKalb County goes without counseling services.

SS - Like most senior services agencies we offer the low-impact aerobics, tai-chi, chair yoga, Wii bowling, spelling bee, and card playing our seniors do, and the truth is that they love that with their cookies and coffee. However, for 50 years we’ve done a lot more than that to stimulate our seniors’ minds and keep them engaged in the community. We do some pretty amazing outings and host some hard to forget celebrations. We host a monthly food pantry with Northern Illinois Food Bank. Not only does this create fellowship, but it also helps combat senior food insecurity. As you can see, essentially our strategy is to get aging individuals involved as early as possible to help thwart the negative and costly aspects of aging alone.

YM - Youth Mentoring operates four different mentoring programs. Our strategy is to provide a healthy adult for a child who may need an additional boost of self-esteem or one more consistent and stable adult in their life. Often times these matches last for years and we are often contacted about matches who reconnect years later to share how impactful the experience was for both participants.

CAC - 1 in 10 children are sexually abused before their 18th birthday. Since 2002, Children's Advocacy Center has helped over 1,800 of such children living in DeKalb County. The CAC not only coordinates investigations of child sexual and physical abuse allegations, we provide holistic and life changing interventions for the children and their families. We aim to provide prevention services to students, children, and adults.

CAP- Over 16% of DeKalb County residents live below the poverty line. We provide essential anti-poverty programs. CAP changes people’s lives, embodies the spirit of hope, improves communities, and makes America a better place to live. We care about the entire community and we are dedicated to helping people help themselves and each other. Our strategy is to minimize the recurrence of poverty across generations and lessen the burden of those who qualify as low-income.

CFC - All therapists are licensed and credentialed in their respective fields. They receive regular supervision and all requisite trainings. FSA is a is a Medicaid approved provider and is accredited by the Council on Accreditation. The Council on Accreditation (COA) is an international, independent, nonprofit, human service accrediting organization. Founded in 1977 by the Child Welfare League of America and Family Service America (now the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities), their mission is to partner with human service organizations worldwide to improve service delivery outcomes by developing, applying, and promoting accreditation standards. They envision excellence in the delivery of human services globally, resulting in the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.

SS - As an agency, we have over 100 years combined of experience with geriatric populations. Our staff has a variety of degree including Human Services, Human Development, Social Work, and many others. We are well trained and well versed in working with senior citizens. This program received full funding from the Retirement Research Foundation to kick-start Senior Connections.

YM - For over 50 years we have been connecting youth who may benefit from an additional caring adult in their lives to stable and healthy adults who want to help be a stabilizing factor for a youth who may need it in their community. Our organization has reliably screened and matched kids with adults for five decades. We host an annual fundraising event, Spare Time for Kids, that is well attended by community members from every sector.

CAC - The CAC is Accredited by the National Children's Alliance. CAC meets the standards for forensic interviews, follows strict standards regarding victim support and advocacy, attends mandatory monthly case reviews, adheres to strict guidelines on the standards of mental health and medical evaluations and attends regular conferences for CEUs.

CAP- Community Action has employees with lived experience and the education to support it. We have employees who have lived through Domestic Violence, poverty, and homelessness. This gives us the advantage of knowing what our community needs in the way of resources and funding. Every Family Support Specialist within CAP becomes a certified case manager in addition to holding a Bachelor's degree.

Since FSA opened in an old TB sanitarium on the grounds of Hopkins Park as the original mental health care provider in the county it has changed a lot. That first year in 1956 we counseled 479 people in the only program we had - the Center for Counseling. This year we've helped improve the lives of 2,112 people, across four programs: CAC, CFC, SS & YM one life at a time.

If you haven't already added up our years of services across those five programs it equals 172 years! And that doesn't include the additional 5+ programs we started and have since seen spin off into their own individual programs because they got to be so big a successful, something we're incredibly proud of! If you added Homemakers, Elder Care Services, a respite program for families of children with disabilities, Meals on Wheels in Sandwich and Family Life Education you'd be looking at another 121 years of service.

Since we opened we've also seen Kishwaukee College open over a decade later, the Northwestern Kishwaukee Hospital expand from about 20 beds to what it is today, and the population more than double.

Our progress can be measured in the lives we've touched, the vast number of people in the county who have either received services or know someone who has, worked here, or volunteered either as a board member or in a different capacity. Approximately 1 in 3 residents of DeKalb County have been involved with Family Service Agency in some capacity.

In 2019 we moved into a newly renovated building. Our previous facility was roughly 7,000 sq.ft. and our new building is 14,000 sq.ft. This doubling in size has helped alleviate what can only be described as us having been bursting at the seams for some time now. Now that we are able to accept Medicaid clients we can literally take clients non-stop. We have undergone several periods of time with clients on waitlists, but have added additional clinicians and staff to prevent this.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any slowing of child sexual abuse or severe child physical abuse in DeKalb County. Our new building has allowed the Children's Advocacy Center to make technological advances past where we ever could've imagined. We have a state of the art forensic interviewing room with a detached observation room. Our medical room is fun and welcoming which allows children to feel safe during their medical examinations.