| The need is too great for us not to act!  Youth Homes -a picture THIS IS A GENERATION IN CRISIS 15% of teens 10 to 19 have seriously considered SUICIDE. TeenSuicide
SUICIDE is the 3rd leading cause of death among 10 to 19 year olds. Teen Suicide
Fear of VIOLENCE in schools is now the leading "worry" of public school teens. Brueau of Justice Statistics, US Dept. of Justice These kids need homes where they can be safe and experience real love from trained adults who have dedicated their lives to helping teens reach beyond what they see and achieve greatness. In our research and travels around the region we have seen many amazing examples of God's love for the fatherless and orphan. There an many caring organizations that provide loving, safe and nurturing family style homes for their kids. We have learned from these many goups like Smokey Mountain Children's Home in Sevierville, TN and The Youth Encouragement Services (YES) home in Aurora, IN how to successfully design, implement and sustain homes for children. The Mary’s Comfort Youth Homes will be disctintly different from any existing program in Indiana. Our homes will be emergency, temporary housing, and mostly residential care homes working in partnership directly with local family courts, law enforcement officials, churches, and community organizations providing desperately needed sanctuary and specialized care for young victims of, neglect, exploitation and abuse.
Almost everyone agrees that family life is the ideal and goal for parentless children. Mary's Comfort Youth homes or homes with house parents can provide stability where it has otherwise been unattainable. Siblings can be placed together and otherwise unruly children can be given proper supervision and structure. Each year in Indiana:- 7,000 children are placed in temporary foster homes;
- 3,000 children live in shelters and other state-funded facilities;
- Over 200 legal orphans whose parents’ rights have been terminated remain unadopted in state care.
In the current foster care system siblings are often separated and 1 in 10 children will spend more than 7 years in the system and 25 percent have had at least three different foster parents. To those children "group homes", our solution: "Youth Homes", are appropriate and underused options to the child welfare system.  
In a "family" setting of a small youth home where missionary house parents who have dedicated themselves to the rearing of these children offers a solution that meets several needs: Most important is a loving environment that encourages achievement through consistent love, acceptance, support and accountability. It also offers an environment whereby providing education and internalizing one's potential as a productive member of society are paramount to living a successful life. Living with house parents and interacting with other teens and adults in educational settings provides the children with the opportunity to choose role models. They can maintain relationships with biological parents and siblings because family reunification is maintained as a goal and given high priority in each child's care. Young people need a chance to build support networks, learn how to access resources and have an adult role model or mentors, which is especially true for young men. Having a relationship with a caring adult can help young people navigate the world through the whole "aging-out" process. Though it's not a complete answer, having a relationship with a responsive adult role model can lower some of the other risks that youth are vulnerable to, such as running away, suicide, drug addiction and teen pregnancy. 
"You 'age out' of a system, but you don't 'age-out' of a family" -Sue Badeau, Philidelphia Children's Commission The ideal setting for these homes would be in a 3,000 - 4,000 sq. ft. open floor plan building with three to four separate bedrooms to house not more than two to three children to a room. Each home would be equipped with in-house education and worship areas. Included would be the essential living, cooking, bathing and utility areas large enough to accommodate 10-14 people and their daily needs. Each building would be completely handicap accessible and up-to-date with the latest safety and security features to ensure each child and staff member's personal safety. 
There would also be a semi private "family" area close to the offices for the purposes of family reunification and orientation as well as independent living mini-apartments for youth "aging-out" and for the house parents. Each building would be located on not less than two (2) city lots or 1/2 acre. Preferably the homes would be in rural or country settings to allow the children freedom of movement outside of the building while maintaining a safe and secure environment to grow. The Bottom Line - COST Each Youth Home would be valued at over $180,000 but we hope to keep the cost of building these homes to under $100,000. We will do this through community and corporate donations, volunteer labor and personal investment of time and effort. 
The Federal Government has estimated that the monthly cost for care per child in this type of setting will be approximately $3,000. We hope to provide this care for not more than $1,500 per child, per month. Please consider becoming a partner and/or founder of one of these safe and secure Youth Homes and give these kids a real chance at restoration and success in life. Sources: Internet releases of data from the 2007 Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
Youth Homes -rethinking Foster Care
We believe that the Youth Home option is a beneficial solution to an overcrowded, underfunded and over taxed Child Welfare System. Foster Care is the most well-known option for substitutive care for a child in need of residential care. The child temporarily lives with another family, either with other foster children or the families' biological or adoptive children or without other children altogether. [This ministry supports and encourages foster parents who have dedicated their lives to offering hope and restoration to children that have had challenges and obstacles in their lives. While there are many very dedicated, loving and competent foster parents and homes that serve thousands of children across the country, the following facts and statistics are unfortunately true. ] State or County services oversee foster care decisions. Children in these foster care environments are more likely than other children to exhibit behavioral and emotional problems including school suspension and limited engagement in extracurricular activities. They are more likely to have received mental health services in the last year, to have a limited physical, learning, or mental health condition(s) or to be in poor or fair health. One study found that almost 60 percent of young children in foster care, ages two months to two years, were at high risk for developmental delay or neurological impairment. Youth who "age-out" of foster care usually have a difficult transition to adulthood. (For more statistics on the risks of Foster Care see: "Facts about the Fatherless" by clicking the link: More facts about ) By 2005 there were over 800,000 children in substitutive care (foster care). The Child Welfare system in the United States has for years been the subject of scrutiny. Due in part to the following facts: Over 28% or 253,400 of the children in state care had been abused while in the system. 95% or more of children in foster care are there because of allegations of previous abuse or neglect. In Missouri, a study found that 57% of the sample children were placed in foster care settings that put them "at the very least at a high risk of abuse or neglect." 
At least 12.5% of the state's foster care population, have been sexually abused while in state care.During a recent two year period, one foster child died on average every seven and a half weeks in the state of Arizona. Four of them were reported as having been "viciously beaten to death" by their foster parents.35% of orphan children in the foster care system are eligible for or waiting for adoption.The average stay for a child in foster care is 39.4 months.1 out of 4 of homeless adults is a former foster care child.(Washington, DC: Interagency Council on the Homeless, 1999). Sources: United States Department of Health and Human Services website:http://www.aspe.hhs.gov The Orphan Society of America- The State of Parentless Children in the U.S. 2007 On a national level, the General Accounting Office recently examined the issue of whether the nation's foster children were being adequately serviced with respect to their health care needs. The GAO found that: despite foster care agency regulations requiring comprehensive routine health care, an estimated 12% of young foster children receive no routine health care, 34% receive no immunizations, and 32% have some identified health needs that are not met an estimated 78% of young foster children are at high risk for human Immunodeficiency virus as a result of parental drug abuse, yet only about 9% of foster children are tested for HIV young foster children placed with relatives receive fewer health-related services than children placed with nonrelative foster parents, possibly since relative caregivers receive less monitoring and assistance from caseworkers that the Department of Health and Human Services has not designated any technical assistance to assist states with health-related programs for foster children and does not audit states' compliance with health-related safeguards for foster children. General Accounting Office, Foster Care: Health Needs of Many Young Children Are Unknown and Unmet, Letter Report, GAO/HEHS-95-14, May 26, 1995. Even in some institutions that are clean and provide adequate food, staff neglect children; babies are left to lie alone in cribs or small beds with no stimulation, play, or adult attention; adolescents are not provided the guidance and care needed to prepare for adulthood. Children and youth are often denied contact with extended family members and communities. The picture below is similar to the foster care bedroom that Mary's Comfort founder, Sean Stevens, briefly stayed in as a foster child. Not much has changed over the years. 
Educational opportunities are frequently lacking and medical care abysmal. Denied the help and care of a natural family, many of these children and youth are further disadvantaged by systems that perpetuate abuse and neglect. We must act if we are to change the future for these children. Be a part of the Mary's Comfort family and enjoy making a difference in a woman's or child's life... There is always a shortage of people willing to take time out of their busy lives to give an orphan or widow a blessing. You may contact us via email. © Mary's Comfort Ministries, Inc. 2009
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