We help Jewish families and the community at large to successfully meet the challenges of daily life by providing quality, affordable, and accessible social services. The agency is guided by our values of caring for individuals with dignity and respect and helping people to help themselves.
Jewish Family & Children’s Service (JFCS) is the premier social service agency in the Southern New Jersey community. JFCS sets the standard of excellence in care and programming and delivers both with an unparalleled level of compassion and respect, restoring hope and dignity.
Jewish Family and Children’s Service (JFCS) has a long and rich tradition of serving our community. Our history is one of adaptability and progress, all aimed at one central goal: to provide help to those in greatest need. We take great pride in our past and are excited about the future ahead. Over the years, in line with our core values of flexibility and responsiveness, we have evolved into an agency that looks very different from our early beginnings.
Our roots trace back to World War I, when the Camden section of the National Council of Jewish Women addressed the welfare and relief needs of Jewish individuals in Camden County. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Hebrew Ladies Charity emerged to help support the community, and its efforts were continued by the Hebrew Welfare Society through the early 1940s. In the mid-1940s, the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey hired its first professionally trained social worker, marking the start of the counseling services we offer today. In December 1949, to better reflect the evolving nature of our work and philosophy, we changed our name to Jewish Family Service. At that time, Jewish Family Service became an official department of the Jewish Federation. In October 1993, we further expanded our scope and adopted the name Jewish Family and Children’s Service.
Our agency’s evolution mirrors the changing approaches to addressing economic instability, social challenges, and emotional struggles that families have faced for generations. As the concept of public responsibility for basic economic needs took root, and social insurance and public aid became core components of the American social service system, the role of family service agencies began to shift. This cultural shift has led to a focus less on financial assistance and more on helping individuals and families navigate personal and social adjustments.
