Families First Center

Families First Center, formerly known as F.I.R.E. (Families Involved in Rehabilitative Environments) was started in 1972 by concerned St. Joseph County citizens. The goal was to establish family environments as a method of rehabilitating problem youth. Later in the 1970s, F.I.R.E. acquired and maintained another home that served as a shelter to promote the innovative approach of a family environment to the problem of runaway youth. Today, the runaway shelter exists as the Safe Station and is run by the Youth Services Bureau. Now, to meet the supervised visitation needs of children who, through no fault of their own, have been put into situations where supervised visitation is required, the F.I.R.E. Home (now Families First Center) was established in February 1992. In 2001, Families First Center extended their services to include Parent Education, which is the provision of structured, parenting skill development experiences. Education regarding parenting, discipline, and child d...