ADOPTION
1) ADOPTION RESOURCE CENTER AT BRIGHTSIDE
(Berkshire County Office)
480 West Street
413-496-9491
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Birth Parent Hotline (Toll Free) 1-877-777-7774
E-mail: [email protected]
Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., with flexible extended hours to meet individuals’ needs.
Comprehensive adoption services for birth parents, children, and adoptive parents, including domestic and international adoption. Brightside has its own program in China plus a waiting child (special needs) China program, and networks with other agencies for Poland, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. (2003 Berkshire United Way listing)
2) BEACON ADOPTION CENTER
66 Lake Buel Road
413-528-2749
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Specializing in international and minority adoptions for married couples and single persons. (2003 Berkshire United Way listing)
3) BERKSHIRE CENTER FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
480 West Street
413-448-8281
Pittsfield, MA 01201
1-888-742-7443 (toll free)
Hours: Monday-Friday 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. (Child care opens at 7:30 a.m.)
Offers a wide range of support services to vulnerable children and their families. BCFC has 11 separate programs as follows:
•Educational Child Care at Six Locations in Pittsfield:
– Child Care Center at 480 West Street
(413-448-8281)
– Dorothy Amos Community Preschool at 314 Columbus Avenue
(413-499-2320)
– Redfield Infant/Toddler Center at 48 Elizabeth Street
(413-445-4136)
– Crosby Partnership Preschool at 517 West Street
(413-447-8994)
– Conte Kids’ Club (School-Age) at 200 West Union Street
(413-496-9289)
– Morningside Kids’ Club (School-Age) at 100 Burbank Street
(413-443-1467)
•Healing Homes Therapeutic Foster Care
(413-448-8281)
Healing Homes is a private foster care program for children with special medical, physical or emotional needs, including children who have experienced multiple unsuccessful previous placements. This program provides the intensive support to foster parents which is necessary for them to help each child achieve his or her maximum potential.
•McInerney Parent Center
(413-499-3556)
The McInerney Parent Center offers support services for parents on child rearing issues from infancy to teenagers.
•Redfield House/Young Family Services
(413-448-2997)
Redfield House offers subsidized, supportive housing for young families in Berkshire County and serves a young parent population with prevention, education and treatment services that help create long-standing, positive benefits for families, children, and the community.
•Parent’s Place
(413-664-4597)
The Parent’s Place, a collaboration of five agencies housed in Northern Berkshire, involves the whole family in a comprehensive family support and family literacy program. Services include adult education, early childhood enrichment, parent-child interaction and learning, parenting skill development, life skill development, and home visits.
•Strong Families, Strong Kids, Strong Communities (SFSK)
(413-443-1609)
SFSK’s purpose is to promote healthy development and school and community success. It offers a vehicle to increase parental involvement in school, a key factor in school success.
•Permanency Supports
(413-448-8281)
This program provides a comprehensive range of services to ensure that adoptive families and adoptees have the support and knowledge necessary to sustain well-functioning families.
•Pittsfield Even Start
(413-448-9819)
Even Start meets a need for family literacy for vulnerable families and collaborates with the Adult Learning Center and Head Start. Parents work on adult basic education, participate in parenting classes, participate in activities with their children, and children participate in early childhood (developmental) experiences.
•21st Century Family Advocate
(413-664-9633)
BCFC has a family advocate assigned to a very large school-based program in North Adams. This federal program provides enrichment and community activities for families and children throughout the school system after school and evenings. The Family Support Leader provides outreach to families by referrals from the schools, and outreach on behalf of the program activities.
•Family Development Program
(413-445-4130)
Family Development workers offer families concrete support and education including: child development, basic budgeting, household management, enhancing parent- child relationships, and teaching social skills.
•DSS Family Based Services Network (FBS)
(413-448-8281)
The goal of this network is to achieve child safety, well-being and permanency through connecting families to a wide array of local services. (2003 Berkshire United Way listing)
4) MASSACHUSETTS ADOPTION RESOURCE EXCHANGE (MARE) (www.mareinc.org)
45 Franklin Street 5th Floor
1-800-882-1176
Boston, MA 02110-1301
617-54-ADOPT
Fax: 617-542-1006
Western Regional Office
1537 Main Street 2nd Floor
413-452-3431
Springfield, MA 01103 (Maurine Albano)
MARE is a private non-profit agency that works with both private and public adoption agencies to find permanent adoptive homes for children in foster care. This is done by recruiting, educating, supporting and advocating for families throughout the adoption process. To match children with appropriate families, MARE also holds adoption parties throughout the state, coordinates media campaigns featuring specific children, and has a computer child/family matching program. (2003 Berkshire United Way listing)
5) MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
53 Eagle Street
413-236-1800
Pittsfield, MA 01201
CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE 1-800-292-5022
CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE AFTER 5:00 p.m. 1-800-792-5200
210 State Street
413-662-2762
North Adams, MA 01247
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:45 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Protective services for abused, neglected, and “at risk” children and their families; serves children under the age of seventeen. Services include assessment of needs, counseling, referral services, foster care and adoption. Hotline takes “child in need” reports which can be made by non-professionals. (2003 Berkshire United Way listing)
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