St. Catherine’s Center for Children: Capital Region Permanency Resource Center

Address: 40 N. Main Street Albany NY 12203
Contact: Tiffany Carroll
Phone: (518) 852-9546
Email: tcarroll@st-cath.org
Website: https://www.st-cath.org/
Office Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00AM-5:00PM

Eligibility: Serves non-parent caregivers of children (up to age 18) with no formal legal designation, legal custody, legal guardianship, and post-adoptive families, residing in Albany, Schenectady, and Rensselaer counties.

Our Assistant Program Coordinator, Case Managers, and Family Engagement Specialist are trained to focus on the needs of kinship caregivers, legal guardians, adoptive parents, and caregivers of children that have informal or legal custody of children.

Families receiving services from our Capital Region PRC can participate in support groups, crisis management training, peer-to-peer support activities, and educational sessions that are designed to aid the caregivers in successfully navigating social service and the education field, as well as the legal systems to obtain much-needed services and support.

With an emphasis on permanency interwoven into all activities, elements of the program include:

• Case management and referral services
• Community education for the families
• Support groups for caregivers
  • Parenting a Second Time Around (PASTA) is the guiding curriculum for the program support groups. Additional training sessions are aimed at increasing the caregivers’ understanding of trauma and how to best provide strength-based parenting to the children in their care and promote stability in the home.
• Family engagement activities
• Support groups for children in program
• Short respite periods, as needed, for the caregivers
  • One key feature of the SCCC Capital Region PRC program is the brief period of restorative relief from supervising the child(ren) that is provided to the caregivers, with the intent to decrease family stressors and temporarily relieve the caretaker(s) from the demanding responsibility of providing care. The children spend time with the trained respite provider in community outings and educational activities.

The program also regularly solicits the input of the caregivers and families to fine-tune services to the specific needs of program participants.

A New York State Office of Children and Family Services Program