The Residential Framework
The Children's Home provides a safe and caring residential setting for each of the 86 boysand girls, ages 7-14. The children are part of cottage units, roughly divided by age, with a team of at least eight experienced and dedicated professionals to accompany each unit.
The average stay is four to five years. Upon graduation, most of the children go on to attendboarding schools, high schools or youth villages. A large number return home to their families. Some of the boys may continue on to the JHTC's Kemper Group House.
The Children's Units
Currently, there are four units of 14-15 boys and girls per unit, between the ages of 7 and 11.The children of each unit live together as a cohesive group in a beautifully appointed cottage setting, and attend classes together at our on-campus school. Their escorting professional team consists of a unit coordinator, two child-care workers, three special-education teachers, a social worker and psychologist. Often, additional staff aides may be recruited from National Service volunteers..
The Junior Unit
The Junior Unit is a warm, supporting home to 24 boys between the ages of 11 to 14. Some of them may come to the Children's Home from other facilities where their stay has been terminated due to severe behavioral problems. The Junior Unit's 3-year program provides a compassionate, stable framework in which these pre-adolescents can regain a sense of self-worth.
As part of a close-knit community that lives, studies and plays together, the boys develop self-confidence and independence while learning responsibility, cooperation, and other social skills necessary for reconciliation with their families and integration into the general community. The majority are successfully mainstreamed.
Time and space in which to grow
The children's cottages and the Junior Unit facilities are designed to provide both private and communal space, where children can enjoy one-on-one interactions with the staff while developing confidence, trust, and cooperation skills with their peers.
In addition to bedrooms for two, with attached private bathroom and shower, each unit has a computer-equipped club room, a communal play area outfitted with DVD and music soun
system, quarters for the on-duty counselor, and a kitchen and dining room, where children and staff prepare and eat the evening meal together as one family. Twice a day all children and staff come together in the main dining-hall for breakfast and lunch.
The campus also boasts a large, beautiful dining-hall, two playgrounds, a soccer field, basketball court and a small covered small swimming pool.