“Hope for a better future”
“Nothing is a quick or easy fix, but we are excited to see homes have hope for a better future for these youth..”
PYF has evolved over the years to not just be involved directly in the lives of youth living in youth homes, but to grow in our ability to strengthen these homes to care for their youth better. One way we have been accomplishing that is by working alongside youth homes to help them realize their goals of having more family based care. That can look very different at different homes..
Maybe it means beginning to look for foster families for youth or maybe it looks like strengthening their original family in some way to take care of them. Or sometimes it can even look like having smaller groups of youth living with house parents. Whatever they want it to look like, we are excited to help them get there.
One such home we work with that has connected with us recently is Home of Care (name changed for confidentiality). For as long as we have known this home, they have had as many as 16 youth all living under the same roof. We have done countless respite events there and now even mentor some of their youth who have transitioned out of the home and are struggling to get their footing in life on their own.
One youth from this home called one of our staff members late at night because she was in a motorcycle accident and needed to go to the hospital. Others stay late at some of our staff’s houses to talk about real issues they are facing. We’ve built a strong bond with these youth and have seen how they struggle not having a designated father or mother figure in their lives. We strive to make sure they know they can depend on us for whatever needs they have. But in an ideal world, they would have a family to be that for them.
So it is very exciting that recently Home of Care has been talking to us about family based care and what that would look like. They are thinking about transitioning their model of care and have even hosted a child protection training for their staff, which our staff also had the privilege of being invited into. Basically, we are so excited that this home is not only letting us be involved directly in the lives of their youth but also in conversations with us about how to strengthen their home to better care for their children. It is an honor just to be included in this conversation.
With homes such as Home of Care, we’re looking forward to journeying with them as they create mechanisms to support families and prevent kids from being in the youth home too long or entering the youth home in the first place. Nothing is a quick or easy fix, but we are excited to see homes have hope for a better future for these youth. Home of Care seeing the importance of family-based care is just the beginning.
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