Alternative Family Services / The Gathering Place

The mission of Alternative Family Services is to support vulnerable children and families in need of stability, safety and wellbeing in their communities.

AFS supports families, children and youth in foster, adoptive and extended families settings morally, materially, therapeutically and educationally. The AFS clinical model is, at heart, a highly individualized social support model.

The Gathering Place is a collaborative project among Alternative Family Services (AFS), Alameda County Social Services Agency and Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services. The Gathering Place provides a safe, comfortable, family-friendly environment where referred parents and children who have been separated can complete their visits and receive a range of services including therapeutic, supervised and observed visits. The Gathering Place is committed to maintaining family attachments during the difficult period of separation. It seeks to eliminate obstacles to visitation while promoting positive family interaction.