ABOUT US
Allegheny Family Network is a “Family Run” non-profit organization serving Allegheny County.
As a “Family Run” organization AFN is staffed by family members (parents or caregivers) with lived experience who have raised or are raising a child with mental health or emotional needs.
Sixty percent of our Board of Directors are Family Members, one hundred percent of our Parent Advisory Board are Family Members, and all of the staff from the Chief Executive Officer to the direct support staff are Family Members.
Vision:
Families will be empowered, respected, valued, and encouraged by an accepting community and responsive child-serving systems and providers.
Mission:
Through peer-to-peer support, education, and advocacy, we partner with families of children with behavioral health needs to improve their quality of life.
Values:
Encouraging family voice, building natural supports, empowering parents by using a strength-based approach, encouraging collaboration between families and service providers, practicing persistence in helping families reach their goals, and providing individualized attention to each and every family.
Board of Directors Composition:
The Board of Directors consists of committed people from higher education, health care, social services, psychiatry, and other professions. The majority are parents or caregivers who are raising or have raised a child with a behavioral health challenge.
Staff Composition:
All AFN employees must be a “family member with lived experience”; they have the experience of raising a child who has behavioral health needs. Their varied lived experience offers a wealth of knowledge and experience to the families we support in AFN’s services and activities. AFN staff members are also skilled at negotiating the child serving systems, including child welfare, behavioral health, juvenile justice, substance abuse, and the education system.
AFN’s direct service staff are called Family Support Partners (FSPs). As parents who have encountered similar situations as the families they serve, they understand the challenges and struggles families face in their daily lives. They offer families hope, compassion, and empathy, they empower parents to advocate for their children, and they connect them to needed resources so that the family can achieve its life goals.
Family Support Partners are highly trained. Staff become credentialed in at least one program but may be credentialed in 2 or more. Credentialing and certification are obtained from the following organizations:
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High Fidelity Wraparound (Youth and Family Training Institute)
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Strength Based Family Workers (Allegheny County through Temple University)
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National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health
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Parent Peer Support Program (Family Run Executive Director Leadership Association)
AFN Locations:
Main Office located at 425 North Craig Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 in North Oakland. 412-246-2030.
North Office located at 1600 Pacific Avenue, Natrona Heights, PA 15065. 412-246-2030.
Services at Allegheny Family Network:
AFN delivers services through individual parent-to-parent support, support groups, parent education opportunities, the Parent Support Line, the Provider Consultation Line, and social events.