• Seated mother embraces her son while kissing him on his forehead
  • Asian mother helping disabled son prepare a pumpkin for carving
  • Teenage son enjoying a casual conversation with his father in their living room
  • Young family at home with two young daughters playing together on the floor
  • A mom and her teen daughter holding hands together on a walk
  • A smiling father with his arm around his two sons on a bridge in a park
  • A group of 4 teenage girls chatting on the front steps of a house after school
  • Smiling close up portrait of mother, father and developmentally disabled son
  • Two friends sharing time together on the ground outside school
  • A father overseeing his two sons baking cookies

Bergen County's community-based care management services for children with serious behavioral health, substance abuse, or developmental issues and their families.

Helping families in need, get the care they deserve

To get started, watch the 3-minute video on the left to understand the NJ Children's System of Care and the PerformCare referral process by which your family can receive services through the Bergen County system partners like Bergen's Promise.

Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

Please contact us directly if you've got additional questions, and we'll do our best to answer.

  • What is Bergen's Promise?

    Bergen's Promise, the designated Care Management Organization (CMO) for Bergen County NJ, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to meeting the complex mental health and wellness needs of children up to age 21 with identified emotional and behavioral challenges, substance use issues, and intellectual and developmental disabilities.

    A vital component of the NJ Children's System of Care, the CMO embraces a Wraparound Approach to care management - enhanced by integrated Behavioral Health Home services for medical care coordination for youth with co-occurring behavioral and medical health issues – which strengthens the child's and family's ability to meet life's challenges, and fosters resiliency and hope for a better future. Learn more about us and the way we work with families!

  • Why do I call PerformCare to find help for my child?

    PerformCare is the single point of entry to access services for mental and/or behavioral health issues, developmental disabilities and/or substance misuse available publicly through the New Jersey's Children's System of Care for youth up to age 21.

    Parents or legal guardians call PerformCare at 1-877-652-7624 to access services, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

    Do not hesitate to ask a trusted school representative to assist you in making the call to PerformCare.

    PerformCare will conduct an assessment and link the youth and family with the services they need in the most appropriate setting. These services may include: care management, mobile response and stabilization services, a more extensive needs assessment, outpatient services, among other options. PerformCare may authorize Children's Mobile Response Stabilization Services (MRSS) to come your home within one hour of notification to provide face-to-face crisis services. The goal is to stabilize behavior and keep your child at home. Mobile response is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and can offer up to eight weeks of stabilization services. In Bergen County, these services are contracted with CarePlusNJ.

    There are many guides and brochures available in multiple languages on the Children's System of Care website to help you understand the services available. PeformCare also has a 3 minute video available with Spanish subtitles. There is a new Spanish-language mini-site integrated on the PerformCare website, available at www.performcarenj.org/espanol

    These services are provided at no cost to families regardless of income, insurance and immigration status, however families will be asked to provide insurance information if they have it. View additional details about how these services are covered for families. (available in Spanish, Mandarin, Korean and Portuguese).

    In case of emergency, call 911.

  • How much does it cost for Bergen's Promise services or any services that you coordinate?

    Bergen's Promise does not charge your family a fee. Services are available to the family in a cost effective manner and without regard to income level, insurance status, languages spoken, immigration status, or involvement with other systems. Your Care Manager will work with your Child and Family Team to maximize the use of low cost, in-network and free sustainable resources. 

    • What is the Wraparound Approach and why is it important?

      The "Wraparound" approach is a unique model of care for youth experiencing serious mental health or behavioral challenges that is able to keep children in their homes and communities, producing better outcomes at lower cost. Wraparound puts the child or youth and family at the center. With support from a team of professionals and natural supports, the family's ideas and perspectives on what they need and what will be helpful drive all of the work in Wraparound.

      The young person and their family members work with a Wraparound facilitator to build their Wraparound team, which can include the family's friends and people from the wider community, as well as providers of services and supports. With the help of the Wraparound team, the family and young person take the lead in deciding team vision and goals, and in developing a plan of care that incorporates a combination of services, informal supports and community based resources that will help them achieve their goals and vision, as well as a plan for graduation. Team members work together to put the plan into action, monitor how well it's working, and make changes as needed.  Person-centered language is used in the Wraparound Approach as our choice of words matter in creating a stigma-free environment for youth and families.

      Based on our extensive experience working with families since 2002, the most important ingredient to success is the development of the Child and Family Team. This wrapping of services around families helps them cope with issues in their everyday lives, and/or better manage the emotional, behavioral, substance, developmental or intellectual condition they are living with.

      • What is Behavioral Health Home?

        The Behavioral Health Home (BHH) provides our children and families with integrated care oftheir chronic behavioral and medical health needs. Behavioral Health Home services utilize a holistic philosophy to integrate physical and behavioral health care management in order to build a person-centered system of care. Youth will receive the traditional Wraparound care management services for emotional/behavioral health, intellectual/developmental disabilities, or substance abuse issues with the addition of an enhanced health care management component.

        Eligible youth must have NJ Medicaid/NJ Family Care, a behavioral health challenge and a specific chronic medical condition.

        Here's a short video introduction to our BHH program from one of our Health & Wellness Educators and Youth (For Non-English speakers, click the CC button at the bottom of the video)

        If your child is presently receiving Care Management supports from Bergen's Promise and you would like to see if your child is eligible for the integrated medical care coordination through our Behavioral Health Home,take one minute to click and complete the eligibility form.

        If you are eligible for BHH, a highly trained Nurse or Wellness Educator will be added to the youth's Child and Family Team with the goal of ensuring the youth:

        • Retains a primary care provider and attend regular well-child visits
        • Receives early periodic screening, diagnosis and treatment for chronic conditions
        • Assists youth/family with hospitalization and follow-up post discharge
        • Obtains appropriate metabolic monitoring for psychotropic medications
        • Receives coordination of services between medical and behavioral health providers

      Community partners are integral to the sustainable progress of our families

      High-fidelity wraparound care requires the collaborative support of schools, health care providers, faith based organizations, community groups, and local leaders to wrap their services and supports around our families. This keeps families connected to their community and builds a healthier Bergen County.

      Collaborate With Us
      Large, diverse group of people who are partners

      Recent News & Events

      Screenshot

      Join Our Team

      When you're ready to have a positive impact on the lives of our local children and families of Bergen County, then we invite you to explore our current job openings.

      Career Opportunities
      Angled view of BergenResourceNet on an iPad screen

      Looking for Resources?

      Look no further. BergenResourceNet.org is a comprehensive directory of Bergen County's community resources for families or professionals working with families. This mobile friendly, translatable directory includes: a Community News/Events calendar to find local support groups, workshops, webinars, events, activities across county. You can also find local service providers for basic needs, as well as for clinical, therapeutic services, after-school, recreational, and special needs programs and much more!

      Visit Bergen ResourceNet