Family and Parent Support, Department of Human Services, Allegheny County

Department of Human Services

Family and Parent Support

$1 Admission to Carnegie Museums
Provides information about the program that encourages any Pennsylvania resident with either a green or yellow ACCESS/ Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card to visit the four Carnegie Museums at a significant discount (Andy Warhol, Art, Natural Hisory are $1 admission fee. The Science Center is $2 admission fee).

$1 Admission to the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh
Provides details about the program that encourages any Pennsylvania resident with a green ACCESS/Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card to visit the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh for $1. (Scroll down to "Discounts" and open "Admission discount list.")

Anti-luring Tips
Helpful suggestions for children and their parents about how to be aware and stay safe in a neighborhood setting.

Child Abuse Prevention Month 2011-13 – Choose Your Partner Carefully
Choosing an appropriate caregiver for your child, including a care-giving partner, is one of the most important decisions a parent can make. Find ideas about things to consider before leaving your child in another’s care.

Dads Assisting Dads (DADS)
The DHS Office of Children, Youth and Families initiated the DADS program in May 2010 to reach out to and engage custodial and non-custodial fathers involved in CYF, as well as to develop trainings focused on father-engagement principles and offer them to CYF and provider staff. Through increased engagement, DADS aims to give fathers more confidence in their role as fathers, as well as in child-welfare-related courtroom settings, with the ultimate goal of strengthening their families and being reunified with their child(ren).

Family Services
Besides conducting investigations of child abuse, student abuse, and assessments of families, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) refers and/or provides a full range of prevention and reunification services to families as alternatives to foster care, and provides foster care and adoption services when necessary. In all, there are more than 280 DHS-sponsored programs for families involved with CYF.

Family Support Centers
DHS maintains a deep commitment to family support centers as a prevention strategy to nurture, protect and strengthen families. Family support centers are community-based and are governed by participants. They provide parents and neighborhoods with the resources and supports they need to raise healthy and happy children.

First Steps In-Home Visitation
First Steps is a home visitation program for pregnant women and families with children up to five years of age. Services include child development screenings, parenting education, home visits, nutrition counseling, and preventive health care.

Help in These Hard Times
Find links to all sorts of services on this page.

Parenting Classes
Allegheny County Department of Human Services supports a wide array of community- and faith-based programs designed to meet the needs of both parents and children so that families can be strengthened. Family Support Centers, Youth Places, after-school and summer camps in public housing communities, and other programs offered through DHS-contracted providers are designed to enable families to get the help they need before a crisis develops.

Safe Sleep ActionAlert
Infants and children one year of age and younger are particularly vulnerable to injury and death when safe sleep practices are not followed. DHS issued the ActionAlert - Safe Sleep Education and the Safe Sleep Leave-behind Flyer to inform staff and caregivers about these dangers and how to reduce them.

Text4Baby
Text4Baby sends pregnant women and new mothers helpful mom and baby health information for FREE to their phones as a text message.