I joined Catholic Charities in early 2006 with 10 years of administrative experience.  You can contact me directly to discuss the agency and community collaboration, service delivery, and any other administrative question.  I also serve as backup mental health counselor for the Eldercare program and as backup for emergency respite intake and coordination.  Our agency enjoys working with other agencies in the communities we serve.  If your agency or organization has a suggestion about collaborating, I would be happy to hear from you. 

I work to provide a fun, creative, and therapeutic setting for the children while their adult caregivers attend their support groups.  I place an emphasis on character development, leadership skills, emotional management, and family cohesion.  Each summer, we make every effort to provide children with a summer camp experience matched to their interests and needs. 

Chris Schaffner
Kinship Care Family Caseworker
chriss@ccalbany.org
(518) 449-2001 ext. 116

I joined the Kinship Care Team this February to provide casework services to our wonderful families. I am available to families for support, advocacy and further understanding for other needs that arise with the responsibilities they have so unselfishly taken on! We offer our Support Groups in Albany twice a month in the evenings with childcare provided and in East Greenbush once a month in the morning at the East Greenbush Library. This spring we will be starting our new daytime monthly Support Group in Schenectady. I am available Monday through Wednesday and on Fridays from 9am until 5pm. Please feel free to contact me to learn more about our support services.

I have been part of the Catholic Charities Caregiver Support Services for 16 years.  Through my experience I have built a strong working relationship with provider agencies that help us to successfully meet the respite needs of family care givers. You can reach me Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  While supporting the Executive Director in operational functions I also handle case management, client intakes, and share on-call support for the after hours and emergency response portion of the eldercare respite program.  Our agency is dedicated to ensuring that the services we offer meet the needs of the families we serve.  As part of my duties I oversee that each client has the opportunity to complete a satisfaction survey and that our work is in compliance with applicable quality assurance standards.

I have been part of the Caregivers team for eight years. Call me on Mondays and Wednesdays as I am here very part-time.  Please call me if you would like to talk about advertising in Reach Out, the quarterly newsletter of the Catholic Charities Caregivers Support Services.  I manage all the advertising for this fabulous letter.  I am also the liaison for the board’s subcommittee work on fundraising, and assist with various accounts payable activities.