CONCERN - Help support our community-based child welfare agency

CONCERN - Professional Services for Children, Youth, and Families is a private, non-profit, community-based child welfare agency founded in 1978 to serve abused, neglected, abandoned and/or delinquent children and youth. CONCERN has assisted approximately 9,000 children and youth in need, including approximately 550 children each and every day.

CONCERN offers services through programs including foster care, counseling, community life skills, and delinquency services. CONCERN is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and the Maryland Department of Human Resources.

Foster Care Services

delinquency services, foster homes, ethnic, racial, religious backgrounds, court-ordered, Make Donations, Alex's Lemonade Stand Fund, Morry’s Camp, The Sunshine Foundation Treatment Foster Care places neglected, abused, and delinquent children and youth into foster homes in the community. Specially trained foster parents and our agency staff work together in developing, coordinating, and implementing services to the child and his or her family. This treatment environment enhances the child's opportunities for more normalized daily living experiences.

Treatment foster care provides homes for children who might otherwise be institutionalized. These children may exhibit significant behavioral problems, and/or varying degrees of social or emotional dysfunction.

Children referred to this program may require therapy or other adjunct services which are accessed through community-based providers or CONCERN Behavioral Healthcare. The need for, and frequency of, such services are determined by the child's Individual Service Plan, in conjunction with the referring county's Family Service Plan.

Who are the foster children?
Children in foster care have histories of abuse, neglect, severe medical problems, and/or delinquency and are currently unable to live at home. The children, who range in age from infants to teenagers, are from a variety of ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds.
Where do the foster children come from who are placed with CONCERN?
More than half of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, and on occasion agencies in other states, utilize CONCERN as a placement option for children. All foster children are court-ordered into placement.
CONCERN's Regional Offices serve the counties located within their geographic area. CONCERN tries to place children within a reasonable distance of their birth families so that family visits can occur without traveling great distances.
How many children are placed with foster parents?
Foster parents can indicate how many children they would accept for placement. In accordance with Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare regulations, the total number of children under the age of 18 in the home (including biological children) may not be more than six. CONCERN, however, usually limits the number of foster children placed with a family to one or two.

Drawing by Shayna M., age 7 - Americas Second Harvest, American Red Cross, donate, Children's Miracle Network, Dream Come True, Habitat For Humanity, Salvation Army, Make-A-Wish, Her Hearts Desire

CONCERN's Special Needs Fund is used to enhance the quality of life of the children by enabling them to participate in many of the traditional experiences of family and community life and to meet expenses of unusual and extraordinary needs that arise with many of the children in our care and which are not covered under traditional funding sources.

CONCERN established the STAR Fund to meet the gap in services which often exists when young men and women "age out" of the child welfare system.

Transitioning from childhood to the responsibilities of adulthood is difficult enough without the additional burden of having little or no support system in place.

According to national statistics from the Child Welfare League of America, 25,000 older teens "age out" of foster care each year. According to one study, 12 percent of these children reported living on the street or in a shelter since discharge. At least another 20 percent received public assistance.

CONCERN accepts donations through:
semi-annual mail appeals
annual charity golf tournament
the CONCERN Lecture Series
annual basket bingo
United Way Donor Option
Combined Federal Campaign for eligible federal employees
planned giving, such as naming CONCERN as the beneficiary in a life insurance policy or remembering CONCERN in one's will or estate
corporate gifts, such as donating the company's products, services, or office equipment
in-kind contributions such as Christmas gifts, clothing, games, and toys

Because of the generosity of our donors, CONCERN's Special Needs Fund and STAR Fund are able to enhance the quality of life for hundreds of children in our care. Your donation to CONCERN really can make a difference in a child's life.

CONCERN is a non-profit charitable organization and has been granted 501(c)(3) status under the IRS code. All donations are tax deductible in accordance with federal law.

For more information on donating to CONCERN, please contact the Development Department in our Corporate Office at (610)944-0445 or (800)562-1427 or e-mail us at concern1@fast.net.