The Intake Department within Edwin Gould Services for Children and Families services all families for the first 30 days of a foster care placement. Intake staff are the first service providers families will come in contact with for an initial assessment and service delivery. This department implements a community- based service model where all birth parents are serviced in the community they are residing in. Intake staff are located in three EGSCF locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx to ensure that a high quality of community-centered permanency services are available to all families throughout NYC. Intake reaches out to families and conducts conferences around service planning and children’s adjustment into care within 24-48 hours of placement.  In understanding how traumatic separation can be for children and their parents, family visits are scheduled within 48 hours of placement when possible and deemed safe for the child. This up front engagement process allows intake staff to begin immediately to assess, support and plan for family re-unification. All support departments within the agency (such as Birth parent advocates, foster parent support, mental health, and health) work collaboratively with the Intake Department to ensure all children and families are effectively and safely provided with the services to quickly address the reasons for placement and begin working toward family re-unification.

Please contact, Director of Intake, Laura Lombardi at 212-437-3529 for further information on the Intake Department.