Children, Youth & Family Services

Children, Youth & Family Services

A teenage girl with red hair smiles for the camera surrounded by other kids her age. They are all wearing light blue shirts and are socializing among themselves at an event.

We Are Here For You

UCS provides a system of care for children, youth and families to build positive family dynamics, personal self-esteem, and vital social skills. We provide an extensive array of home and community-based services for children and adolescents. Children, Youth, and Family Services (CYFS) offers support and safe community environments that promote growth, development, physical and mental health and foster positive relationships.

General Services

UCS provides emergency services to any child, youth, school, family, or caregiver in Bennington County who needs help to deal with a youth-related mental health crisis. For a youth related crisis, call (802) 442-1700 or 1 (800) 360-6621.

CIS supports provides early childhood mental health supports to children under the age of six through consultation, education and treatment services with family and community-based groups to support the social, emotional, and behavioral health and development of young children and their families. CIS also offers consultation and education to childcare providers.

IHCBS provides children, youth and families who require an intensive level of mental health treatment a variety of services to support and keep kids in their own community.

HOPE House includes Psychiatric Urgent Care for Kids (PUCK) for youth up to age 18 and an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) for elementary school-aged children. HOPE House aims to help children experiencing emotional and/or behavioral challenges or crises with the use of therapeutic tools outside of a traditional hospital setting. The goal of HOPE House is to provide treatment for children and adolescents in their own community in a way that allows them to continue attending school and stay with their families.

Download IOP information card.

Download PUCK information card.

Download HOPE House FAQ.

The Community Behavioral Support (CBS) program is a resource for children and young adults in Bennington County experiencing lower intensity behavioral and emotional challenges. CBS program staff will respond to calls from and provide support in the community and directly in local schools.

Community-Based Services

Community-Based services are designed to support children in their home and community.

Clinicians provide counseling and case management to families for which an outpatient treatment model is not a good fit. Services may be provided in the office, home, school, or another appropriate community setting.

This program provides trauma informed case management for at-risk youth ages 18 and under and their families.

Community Supports serves children experiencing emotional or behavioral challenges or who have developmental disabilities. Group Community Supports are also available.

The Respite program provides a break for families in need of support.

This program offers a highly structured 6-to-8-week series, designed to aid children in a wide variety of skills.

School-Based Services

UCS contracts with local schools in Bennington County and provides emotional and behavioral support to students. Services provided are individualized, strengths-based, and child and family-centered.

School-Based Clinicians

School-based clinicians help students participate in regular classroom learning by providing emotional and behavioral support in coordination with school staff.


Behavior Interventionist Services

Behavior Interventionists provide one-on-one mental health support to students in need of behavior management to enable them to attend classes and better access learning.

Transitional Age Youth Programs

Transitional Age Youth Programs support at-risk teens and young adults ages 14–21.

YIT helps older teens and young adults ages 16-21 experiencing mental health challenges successfully transition into adulthood.

JOBS is an innovative case management program serving at-risk young adults ages 16–21. The program helps youth develop positive work ethics, explore career paths, and provides a connection with community partners to maintain a supportive work environment between youth and their community.

Download JOBS Brochure

PSYF serves at risk youth ages 12–23 and their families by developing well-being, education and employment, permanent connections, and stable living environments.

T4C is a peer-led group that gives youth opportunities to interact with each other and make friends, build community connections, learn social-emotional and leadership skills, and do good in their community.

Visit the T4C Facebook page at this link.

Summer Programs

Summer programs provide children with summer camp experiences that may not otherwise be accessible to them because of cognitive, physical, and behavioral challenges.

Camp Be a Kid is a therapeutic summer camp experience designed for children with mental health diagnoses. The camp runs in July and August.

This summer activity group provides teens with positive, healthy, supervised, and safe experiences. Activities include field trips and various activities that are of interest to the group.

This program offers children in the Manchester area an opportunity to work on skill-building with a range of activities in the community, including visits to Emerald Lake, biking, horseback riding at Kimberly Farms, and more.

Curriculum-Based Programs

These programs are designed to provide an educational experience for families and adolescents.

Resource Parent Curriculum (RPC)

RPC is 25-hour curriculum designed to teach trauma-informed skills to nonbiological caregivers of children.


Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP)

PREP is a ten week curriculum designed for adolescents ages 10–19. The course teaches skills around healthy relationships and making educated choices.