Hope For Youth provides safe, supportive temporary homes for children and youth who are working towards reunification with relatives, permanent placement through adoption or self-sufficiency.
Enhanced training and certification programs provided by Hope For Youth allow our foster families to accommodate children in need of:
We are committed to providing quality care and stability for our foster children while working towards a more permanent and stable plan for their future.
Hope For Youth foster care children are referred to us by the Nassau and Suffolk Departments of Social Services. Children may also be referred by the Probation Department as Persons In Need of Supervision (PINS) or Juvenile Delinquents (JD) who have successfully completed a higher level of care.
We are committed to placing all children in the most appropriate and nurturing home settings for their recovery, healing and plan for permanency and stabilization. Hope For Youth matches children with the families that can best suit their foster care needs. By providing the best opportunity for successful placement we prevent multiple placements.
The process of matching begins at the initial communication between the referring agent and our Hope for Youth Program Director. Along with our team, the Program Director interviews the child and identifies the best possible family placement. Prior to placement, Hope For Youth introduces the identified foster family and the child. The initial meeting, if successful, is followed by an overnight visit. Placement occurs once the family and the child agree to the match.
The process of placement is expeditious. Non-therapeutic children (regular and emergency) are often placed on the same day. Therapeutic children are often successfully placed in a week or less.
For both Therapeutic and Non-therapeutic children, assistance and evaluations are regularly scheduled.
Hope For Youth is solely responsible for the training of our foster families. All Hope For Youth foster families receive MAPP (Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting) and ABC Parenting Skills certification with mandated educational workshops throughout the year.
All Hope For Youth foster care families are trained and certified for Therapeutic and Regular Foster Care. This enables our Foster Care program to accept children
from DSS, the courts and probation offices. In addition, it enables Hope For Youth to care for siblings with varying degrees of mental and emotional issues in the same home. 
Foster care parents undergo a stringent interview process including:
Hope For Youth works closely with Suffolk and Nassau County Departments of Social Services (DSS) and probation offices. As part of our care coordination, we offer Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) training to County caseworkers and
invite them to take part in HFY team
conferences.
The CANS method of child evaluation
helps Hope For Youth develop a shared
vision for identifying a child’s strengths
and needs, developing a service plan
and achieving
individualized goals including the
strengthening and
reuniting of family.
Hope For Youth is a certified CANS
training facility. The CANS program,
when administered by trained and
certified users, has been proven a valid
and reliable tool in child assessment in
over 40 states.
All Hope For Youth supervising staff are Master's level Social
Workers, and our caseworkers are Bachelor's level Social
Workers. Training and workshops are ongoing for all staff.
Through continued close contact between our staff and
our foster family network, Hope For Youth provides the best
possible foundation for stability going forward.
Children typically enter foster care in various states of
crisis. Many foster children are suffering emotionally and
mentally, some from multiple traumas. Hope For Youth
foster parents are trained to provide care, manage
behaviors and establish a foundation of trust with
their children.
Foster family relations are often trying on both the
child and the parent. Hope For Youth’s Respite
Program is designed to alleviate stresses and to
provide continued guidance and assistance to parents
and children. The Respite Program provides foster
parents with a parenting break for up to four hours
per week. During this interval, children spend time
developing a relationship with a Hope For Youth
mentor who provides a supportive alternative
relationship for the child. Both the foster parent and
the child benefit from this respite.
In addition, Hope For Youth social workers are available
via telephone to our foster children and foster families
24/7 for emergency support, assistance and mentoring.
Regular Foster Care
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Caseworkers visit monthly
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Frequent team meetings
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Strong supervision providing a supportive atmosphere
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Weekly therapy and group sessions
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Life skill assessment and life skill building activities
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Medical assistance is given as needed
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Children taking medication are screened monthly or as needed by psychiatrists
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Cases are reviewed at 30-day, 60-day interval and then every 90 days thereafter
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HFY works closely with parents and families, providing supportive services including parenting skills training and family therapy. Regular foster care aims to achieve permanency through reunification
Therapeutic Foster Care
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Caseworker visits the child in the home weekly
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Frequent team meetings
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Strong supervision providing a supportive environment
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Weekly group therapy
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Medical assistance is given as needed
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Life skills assessment and skill building activities
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Children taking medication are screened and monitored by psychiatrists on a monthly basis
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Cases are reviewed at 30-day, 60-day and 90-day intervals then every 90 days thereafter
-
HFY works closely with parents and families, providing supportive services including parenting skills training and family therapy. Regular foster care aims to achieve permanency through reunification
Emergency Foster Care (Short-term)
Hope For Youth’s emergency short-term foster care program is intended for children and youth who have been removed from their biological or foster care homes. For children who need additional services, Hope For Youth offers a continuum of care beyond Emergency Foster Care to include our Diagnostic and Residential Group Homes, as well as our ICM programs.
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