Child Welfare Partnerships

Veritas is a pioneer in building partnerships with child welfare organizations to provide services to families in the child welfare system that have either lost their children or are at risk of losing their children due to substance abuse.

Based upon Veritas' belief in the strength of the family, Veritas' goal is--and has been for more than 36 years--to keep at-risk families intact and to reunify children from the foster care system with their recovered parents.

Through comprehensive substance abuse prevention, assessment, referral and treatment services, Veritas serves hundreds of families annually. Every child kept out of the foster care system saves New York City and the taxpayer between $17,000 and $54,000 annually, depending on their special needs. The human cost is even greater. The PEW Commission on Children in Foster Care found irreparable damage caused by a child welfare program that relies heavily on foster care: children suffer from extremely low emotional and social insecurity, decreased communication skills and an inability to manage change. According to ACS, the median stay in foster care for children waiting to be adopted is four years and two months. However, more than 2,600 of New York's 15,800 foster children no longer think they will return home or get adopted, according to the report. Most of them will stay in foster care until they turn 21 and live on their own.