First Children Services and REAL Center Grand Opening

The event was kicked off by speeches made by Joe Hess, President of First Children Services, Chuck Cahn, Mayor of Cherry Hill, and Elizabeth Manley, Director of the NJ Children’s System of Care. Mayor Cahn and Councilwomen Susan Shin Angulo and Melinda Kane welcomed First Children Services to Cherry Hill, assisting Joe Hess and First Children COO, Matt Hess, in cutting the ceremonial ribbon.
The REAL Center, established in 2000 by a group of pediatricians in South Jersey to provide educational resources to local school districts, was previously located in Laurel Springs, NJ. For nine years, that location had been home to the REAL Center Transitions Program, a program dedicated to students with anxiety challenges that prevent them from participating in a district school setting. Transitions Program students have been coming to the program from all over South Jersey for instruction that follows the Common Core and New Jersey Core Content Standards while receiving individual and group counseling sessions on site.
The merger of the REAL Center and First Children Learning Services created First Children Services, which now includes comprehensive educational, behavioral, and therapeutic services for children in New Jersey. In addition to the Transitions Program, First Children offers school districts behavioral and educational support including Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services, behavioral intervention plans, Independent Educational Plan evaluations, educational consulting, home instruction, support staff and afterschool enrichment programs. First Children Services also offers insurance covered ABA therapy and social skills classes to children with Autism. The company also operates the First Children School in Fanwood, NJ, which is an approved private school providing intensive educational and clinical services for children with complex medical and behavioral challenges.
First Children was established by Joseph J. Hess in 2009 after having worked in the field for over twenty-five years. Frustrated by the lack of coordination and accountability in the field, Mr. Hess looked to establish a new approach to serve children with special needs, which would focus on serving children in natural environments like public schools, collaborating with districts, professionals, and parents to provide services that make a real difference, and remaining accountable for outcomes for children and districts alike.