Family Support Line

"It’s been 20 years and I haven’t looked back..."

For 30 years, Family Support Line has been preventing and treating the trauma of child sexual abuse. Based in Delaware County, Pa., the organization reaches out across the region from Philadelphia to Bethlehem about keeping kids safe, learning how to say “no,” and how to respond to a disclosure of child sexual abuse. Family Support Line has a team of therapists with specialized training and trains professionals to help build their capabilities and comfort in dealing with this emotionally difficult subject. The newest program is the Delaware County Children’s Advocacy Center, a welcoming space where abuse victims talk with specially-trained forensic interviewers about their experiences. The Center follows a national, research-based, multi-disciplinary model that has been shown to reduce the need for children to testify about their abuse in court, increase successful prosecution of child abusers, and make it easier for families to navigate the criminal justice system.

Pat Kosinski had been a group leader with the organization almost since its founding, and was named Executive Director some 20 years ago. “I was new to the position with a social work background and I knew I that needed to quickly learn a lot of the mechanics of directing an organization,” she recalls. The 10-year-old organization wasn’t large enough to warrant having a CFO. Somehow, Kosinski was introduced – it’s been so long she can’t recall where – to YPTC President and Founder Eric Fraint. “I’ll never forget Eric’s coming in to my little hole-in-the-wall office and looking at our books. He very politely pointed out that our whole chart of accounts needed to be redone. He talked about YPTC’s services and the level of expertise they bring to organizations like ours. We were using Peachtree, which was a pretty sophisticated accounting system at the time, and they had experience with it, and that was important,” she adds.

“It wasn’t more than a year or so into my tenure that I brought YPTC on board. It’s been 20 years and I haven’t looked back.”

Kosinski – who may be one of YPTC’s longest-standing clients – lauds the company’s reliability and stability. Over 20 years, only a few associates have serviced Family Support Line. Kosinski praises how each associate over the years has brought expertise, advice, structure, and the most current updates in nonprofit accounting. “I have to say “Hats off!” to the consultants we’ve had. We know we’re not their only clients, but they are reliable. We haven’t had an issue with them calling in sick or taking time off and leaving me worrying about how my reports are going to get done. The level of reliability has not gone unappreciated.”

Associates provide further reassurance because they know that Family Support Line’s problems are the same as those experienced by many other nonprofits. “Many people don’t realize how crazy nonprofit accounting is. Even our board members are in awe of the number of grants, codes and funds that we need to track,” she says. “The systems we set up with Eric almost 20 years ago still work for us.”

Having an independent, outside set of eyes reviewing financial details also improves the organization’s internal control. “We may get big enough at some point to need to add a CFO position but for now having someone whose allegiance is to an outside entity is important and adds to our fiscal credibility.

“We do our due diligence but I know that our work is being monitored and that our charts of accounts are in order. I hand things over to YPTC and they put it together. I do not lose sleep at audit time. I do not sweat. I don’t think there’s anything more I can say as a nonprofit director.”