http://www.boystown.org/home.asp

                                             Then

               

                               Now

http://www.boystown.org/aboutus/history/HOHvideo.asp

Founded by Father Edward Flanagan in 1917, Boys Town has a 90 year history of saving children and healing families. What began as a small home for homeless boys has grown into a nationwide organization with sites in a dozen states and the District of Columbia, providing more than 51,000 children each year with a safe, caring, loving environment where they gain confidence to get better.

Boys Town is a beacon of hope for America’s children and families through its life-changing youth care and health care programs across the United States.   Founded by Father Edward Flanagan in 1917, Boys Town is now 90 years strong.  Through a continuum of family services, the nonprofit, nonsectarian organization provides the right services at the right time based on a child’s or family’s needs.  Boys Town offers children and families services in their own homes, or, when necessary, family-like out-of-home services to children with special treatment needs.  Boys Town works with communities and schools in order to meet the growing and more diverse needs of today’s children and families.  

Under the direction of Father Steven Boes, Boys Town provides direct care to more than 51,000 children and assists nearly 1.4 million each year through its youth care and health care programs at sites in a dozen states and the District of Columbia.

Boys Town's National Headquarters and largest child-care facility are located at the world-famous, historic Village of Boys Town in Nebraska. To get a feel for life in our town, which has its own Zip Code, National Geographic ZipUSA describes how children live as part of our family.

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PROGRAMS

• What programs does Boys Town offer to meet the needs of today’s children and families?
• How does Boys Town help children succeed?
• How does Boys Town know its programs work?

Q. WHAT PROGRAMS DOES BOYS TOWN OFFER TO MEET THE NEEDS OF TODAY'S CHILDREN AND FAMILIES?  (top)

A. Boys Town may offer a combination of any of these unique and innovative programs to serve children and families at sites across the country: Short-Term Residential Services, Residential Services, Family-Based Services, Treatment Foster Family Services and Behavioral Health Services.

Short-Term Residential Services provide a safe environment for girls and boys in crisis, including runaway, homeless, court-placed or abused children, or children involved with the Juvenile Justice System. Depending on local need, children may receive care from an Emergency Shelter, or a Staff-Secure or Non-Secure Detention Center. Highly trained professionals provide individual assessment, counseling and care to help children, ages 8-18, be safe, work towards achieving individual treatment goals, learn life skills and problem-solving techniques, identify challenges and make better choices. On average, children stay in a short-term facility between two weeks and one month. If it is in the best interest of a child, Boys Town will focus on reuniting that child with his or her family.

Residential Services focus on family style living. In more than 100 long-term residential care homes across the country, a married couple, known as Family-Teachers, lives in each home with six to eight girls or boys ages 10-18. The couple, with the help of an assistant, ensures the children’s physical, spiritual, emotional and treatment needs are met. On average, children stay in a residential home between 12 and 18 months. Family-Teachers and Assistant Family-Teachers are the heart and soul of the residential homes and the children’s success. They are trained and certified annually through an ongoing professional development and evaluation process. This certification ensures the Teachers are providing the best care possible to their “family.”

Family-Based Services, including Family Preservation Services and Family Centered Services, provide trained Consultants to help families whose children are at-risk for removal from their homes due to abuse or neglect. Boys Town Consultants work with families on a short- or long-term basis to help them provide a safe, healthy environment for their children by focusing on strengths, becoming self-sufficient, improving parenting techniques, developing problem-solving skills, opening lines of communication, learning to access needed community resources and achieving basic goals.

Treatment Foster Family Services provide care to infants through 18-year-olds, who need more attention and treatment than they could receive in a traditional foster care placement. Boys Town recruits and trains foster parents, who take children into their private homes and provide treatment in supportive and nurturing environments. Foster parents receive 24-hour, on-call support from Boys Town professionals. On average, children stay between 12 and 18 months in a Treatment Foster Home.

Behavioral Health Services provide short-term inpatient treatment for children and adolescents ages 7 to 18 who have severe emotional, behavioral and mental health problems. Most of the youth who enter this program have not found success in previous treatment settings. The goal of Behavioral Health Services is to provide individualized treatment that will help youth progress as quickly as possible to a less-restrictive level of care and ultimately succeed in a home environment. Behavioral Health Services include the Intensive Residential Treatment Center located at the Boys Town National Research Hospital and Treatment Group Homes located at the Village of Boys Town.

Q. HOW DOES BOYS TOWN HELP CHILDREN SUCCEED? 

Boys Town professionals use proven programs, based on our 21st Century Teaching Model, combined with compassion to teach children skills that help them take control of their lives and make good decisions. Kids learn self-control, self-discipline and how to develop a positive self image in order to become successful adults. Most important, the youth are active participants in their treatment at Boys Town, which:

• Teaches skills that help the children learn new ways of thinking, new ways of feeling and new ways of behaving.
• Supports moral and spiritual values that help children learn right from wrong while also teaching them to develop their own faith.
• Creates a family environment for children to help them learn responsibility and love while allowing them to reclaim their childhoods.
• Builds strong, healthy relationships to help children create a bond of trust between themselves, caregivers and others.
• Empowers youth to make good choices using self-control and self-discipline while gaining a positive self-image.

Q. HOW DOES BOYS TOWN KNOW ITS PROGRAMS WORK?  

Boys Town is a national leader in evaluating the services it provides to children and families. The Boys Town National Database helps us monitor the treatment of each child in our care on a daily basis in order to evaluate the effectiveness of individual programs, including those in the Village of Boys Town and at Boys Town USA sites across the country. This process is part of our commitment to continuous program improvement and refinement. It is our goal that kids live better, happier and more productive lives after they complete Boys Town programs.

Boys Town conducts periodic follow up studies. As indicated in the graph above, studies show 96 percent of children who complete our programs go to school and graduate, and 93 percent have not been arrested since leaving our programs. Children who complete our programs also flourish in their relationships with their peers, teachers and families.