Kaitlyn’s Story

If you asked Kaitlyn years ago about how her experience at SCO’s Madonna Heights would help her grow, she wouldn’t have had an answer. Kaitlyn’s painful childhood meant being in and out of hospitals, group homes, and residential programs starting at just 8 years old. After her 16th birthday, she arrived at SCO’s Madonna Heights campus feeling angry, defiant, untrusting, and alone. Her struggle persisted – until everything changed for the better.

According to Kaitlyn, every single person she encountered at Madonna Heights made her feel human, loved, important, safe, and secure. She thrived for two years living on the Madonna Heights campus with a new support system focused on helping her achieve her personal, emotional, and academic goals. Today, Kaitlyn is overjoyed to use her life experiences to help guide the next generation of young women as a Youth Advocate at Madonna Heights.

Kaitlyn’s journey gave her the knowledge and insight to show people that no one is alone, to encourage them to advocate for themselves and to guide them on the path to finding their self-worth.

“Knowing my story can influence the story of another young girl which inspires me to give back,” said Kaitlyn.

 

 

Fadwa’s Story

To say Fadwa is driven is an understatement. She doesn’t dream of becoming a surgical nurse, she is actively taking steps to make it happen. And to make her mother proud.

Fadwa lost her mother to cancer when she was just 13 years old. Her father expected Fadwa to assume her mother’s responsibilities and moved the family often, keeping them distanced from any extended family. She was not allowed to have friends or participate in extracurricular activities. She attended five different high schools and managed to maintain excellent grades while she cooked, cleaned, and took care of her two brothers and father.

At 17, she was abandoned by her father and placed in SCO’s foster care program. SCO helped stabilize the teen, placed her with a foster family, and eventually was able to locate a maternal aunt who opened her heart and home to her long-lost niece through kinship foster care.

Despite her early challenges, Fadwa stays focused on the opportunities ahead of her. SCO’s foster care staff helped her prepare for college; guiding her through the application process and helping her achieve both a Dream USA Scholarship and a Youth in Foster Care Award.  Currently a student at Borough of Manhattan Community College, SCO helped her secure an internship with a surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Fadwa’s goal is to keep her GPA high enough to get into nursing school. And we have no doubt she will achieve this and so much more.

 

Become a Family Child Care Provider

family child care photoFamily Child Care Homes provide a year-round full-day child care and early education program for between 3 and 6 infants and toddlers. Group Family Child Care Homes provide a year-round full-day child care and early education program for between 7 and 12 infants, toddlers and preschoolers. If you are interested in becoming an SCO Family Child Care or Group Family Child Care Provider, fill out our online prequalification form.

Family Child Care Homes are licensed or registered by the NYS Office of Children and Family Services and regulated by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The individual providers are responsible for applying for and maintaining the proper certification.

SCO Family of Services offers Child Care Providers:

  • Workforce development
  • Orientation and training
  • The Creative Curriculum for Family Child Care
  • Access to a larger community of providers
  • Administrative oversight and support
  • Assistance with child eligibility determination
  • Access to best practices in the industry
  • Access to sound nutritional programming through CACFP
  • The ability to transition children into center-based services (located in Central Brooklyn/Brownsville and East Elmhurst/Corona)

Who Can Be a Family Child Care Provider?
Our Family Child Care providers are warm and caring adults who have at least two years of verifiable experience working with children. Family Child Care Providers reside in the place where the child care will be provided. The home must have a private bathroom and kitchen, a working telephone and meet additional criteria. Children are accepted into Family Child Care Homes regardless of race, color, gender, religion, national origin or handicapping condition.

SCO Family of Services recruits Family Child Care Homes and Group Family Child Care Homes in the following communities:

Central Brooklyn – Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Crown Heights
Zip Codes: 11207, 11212, 11213, 11225, 11233

Western Queens – East Elmhurst, Corona, Jackson Heights, Flushing, Rego Park, Forest Hills
Zip Codes: 11365, 11366, 11367, 11368, 11369, 11372, 11373, 11374, 11375

Contact: Marie Fadoul 718.779.1660

Kaitlyn’s Story

Importance of having patience, letting go and expressing my feelings without action

“Knowing my story can influence the story of another young girl which inspires me to give back,” said Kaitlyn. Learn More

Fadwa’s Story

Foster Care and Education

“I’m going to be successful regardless of what I’ve been through." Learn More

85%

of residents in our group homes for adults with developmental disabilities attended Day Habilitation and receive vocational services

91%

of babies in our Nurse Family Partnership were current with immunizations at 24 months

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