History
- Formed in 1925, the agency’s main purpose until the end of the Depression was to provide families with relief, which was in the form of food, coal, shoes and even cash.
- By World War II, with families needing counseling to help deal with the loss of their loved ones in the battlefield and the weary soldiers needing help acclimating back to living at home, the first professional counselors were hired.
- In the 1950’s and 60’s, several programs were developed that have become free standing professional programs within our community.
- The onslaught of credit cards found many families dealing with large credit card debt by the mid 1970’s and Consumer Credit Counseling Service was added to help them sensibly repay this debt and better understand credit.
- Searching for the best program for children brought Big Brothers Big Sisters under the agency umbrella in 1980.
- In the mid 1980’s, when the crime of domestic violence became more of a public concern, Family Counseling Service developed MARS, a program to help men learn to change their abusive behaviors.
- As the demographics of the community changed, Family Counseling Service hired bi-lingual staff to accommodate the growing Latino community and now offers all services in English or Spanish.
- In the 1990’s, an Older Adults Program was created to help older adults maintain their independence and self-esteem.
- HUD Certified in 2006, Consumer Credit Counseling Service added staff during the housing crisis to help residents with Housing Counseling and began offering foreclosure prevention, loss mitigation, First Time Homebuyer Education, as well as bankruptcy counseling.
- Most recently, Family Counseling Service partnered with Mental Health Mental Retardation, Inc to begin the Continuing Education Network. As a licensed CEU sponsor, Family Counseling Service is able to offer continuing education credits to Illinois social workers, professional counselors, and substance abuse professionals for most seminars.
Over the years the agency has served its constituency with innovative, professional programs that best respond to the current needs of the community.
As the populations of Kane and Kendall Counties have grown and become more complex, Family Counseling Service has focused on becoming more visible, more accessible, and more affordable and as a result served over 11,000 families in 2009/10.
