It has been our experience that while we want to provide sincere support and guidance, it is crucial that each child and family takes responsibility for their past, present, and future behavior and needs. All of our family members are made aware that they are responsible for their actions from the beginning, but that we are always there for support and guidance.

A Balance Between Structure and Freedom
Our home attempts to have enough structure to insure safety and control, but allow room for mistakes as growth producing events. It is our opinion that much can be learned from failing and mistakes. Therefore, while we maintain a safe environment, we adjust our structure to maximize learning opportunities.


Family Involvement
We support and encourage reconciliation with the family and believe that active family involvement is essential if the child is returning home.
Interagency Collaboration and Coordination
We believe that it is important to understand who has been working with the child and family, the outcomes of those efforts, as well as who is currently involved with the family. We collect historical data and actively coordinate with all involved agencies and individuals.

Motivation and Willingness to Change
We believe it is essential to establish a strong motivational base before asking a child or his/her family to consider major changes. Therefore, we make sure we have helped the child and family identify the benefits of making suggested changes before we ask them to do it.


Life Skills/Character Education Training
Our experience has led us to identify essential life skills that each of our family members need in order to be successful as adults. We attempt to insure that our family members learn and practice these skills.

Strengths-Based Approach
The foundation to all successful change starts with awareness of the child’s and family’s strengths and resources. Despite the needs these children have, they also have many strengths. We make sure that they recognize and build on these strengths and resources.

Volunteer Community Services
We believe that if we are using public dollars and community resources to help these families, then it is appropriate that they in turn offer help to others in need in our community. We expect each of our family members to do volunteer work with us.