Resources for Families

The city and community of New Orleans have a variety of resources available for youth and families. The following list of programs may be useful for youth and families in need of assistance.

 

The Children’s Bureau of New Orleans promotes growth and resilience through prevention, advocacy, education and intervention. Programs include: 

Mental Health Rehabilitation for youth ages 5-17. The goal of the program is to improve a child’s ability to function in spite of emotional or behavioral issues, to respond well in different life situations, to reduce or prevent psychiatric hospitalizations and to increase the chances of the child remaining in school. 

General Counseling services for children up tp age 17 and families who have identified a need for non-trauma related individual therapy, family therapy, group counseling, parenting education, behavioral modification, and/or other mental health services. Areas of concern include but are not limited to anger management, school behavior problems, and parent-child relational difficulties. 

Contact Children's Bureau of New Orleans for assistance. 

The Department of Child and Family Services provides assistance though the following programs: Food Stamps (SNAP), Child Care Assistance, Child Welfare Services, and Family Services provided by the State of Louisiana. For a complete list of services and information for Orleans Parish please visit dcfs.louisiana.gov.

Families In Need of Services (FINS) is designed to bring together resources for the purpose of helping families (troubled youth and their parents) to remedy self destructive behaviors by juveniles and/or other family members. Anyone may file a complaint, however, it is most common that law enforcement, school officials and parents make the referrals.  Grounds for such a complaint are that a child is truant or has willfully and repeatedly violated lawful school rules, ungovernable, a runaway, in possession of or consuming intoxicating substances, the caretaker is contributing to the child's problematic behavior, and/or the caretaker willfully fails to attend meeting with school officials to discuss child's problem. For more information or assistance please call (504) 658-9590 or visit opjc.com.

Family Service of Greater New Orleans is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing counseling and community education to families in need. The Child and Adolescent Response team provides community-based, crisis care intervention to children and adolescents ages 17 and under. CART serves Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines parishes. Please call the crisis line at 1-800-248-1152; services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For a complete list of services visit fsgno.org.

Metropolitan Human Services District will provide and coordinate, directly and through community collaboration, a range of services to address mental health, addictive disorder, and developmental disability needs among the citizens of Orleans Parish. MHS has Behavioral Health Centers located throughout the city of New Orleans. For more information or assistance please call (504) 568-3130 or visit mhsdla.org.