HeartShare St. Vincent’s Services was ranked 1 in permanency by ACS, which oversees the City’s foster care system.

NYC Administration for Children’s Services publishes an annual scorecard rating agencies like HeartShare St. Vincent’s Services caring for the City’s 9,000 children and youth in foster care. The scorecard measures how agencies perform compared to their peers, as well as how agencies handle the risk level of the children in its care.

HSVS received an overall agency score of 91. HSVS was named number 1 in permanency and safety out of 22 other evaluated agencies. “Our children and youth, especially those aging out of care with no ties to consistent adults, need permanent, nurturing relationships to survive and grow,” said HSVS Executive Director Dawn Saffayeh. “Many of us are fortunate to be born into families who are our unconditional support networks. When we applied to college and jobs, went apartment hunting post-graduation, and filled out our taxes for the first time, most of us had help! Our youth deserve that love and support,” said Saffayeh.

HSVS is the first agency in New York City to implement Intensive Permanency Services, which will help youth heal from past trauma, in order to help them to develop healthy relationships for greater wellbeing and security. Additionally, the HSVS Youth Development (YoDe) team serves as in-house support to older youth. Although the American Dream Program offers tuition assistance to young men and women in care, the supportive adults of the HSVS Youth Development team are the backbone of the program by providing ongoing emotional support and guidance, as the students experience the complexities of college life for the first time.

The agency’s permanency work is supported by the Redlich Horwitz Foundation and The Pinkerton Foundation. HeartShare St. Vincent’s Services is a Better Business Bureau agency and accredited by the Council on Accreditation.