Capital Region Cares Capital Region Cares 2018-2019 | Page 107

Stanford Youth
Solutions
Home within reach.
E
veryone needs a stable, loving family
and home. Stanford Youth Solutions
finds those families and homes for
children in the foster care system and
offers multiple foster care support services
so they can successfully live in families and
transition to adulthood.
Established in 1900 as Stanford Home
for Children, the organization, no longer an
orphanage, helps children stay with their
families or find loving adoptive homes.
Throughout their various programs,
Stanford Youth Solutions annually serves
about 1,000 children and youth from
infancy through age 21.
“We currently have about 46 foster
homes, but need many more as we must
turn away an average of eight kids daily,”
says Laura Heintz, CEO. “We’re not just
looking for more beds, but for what we
call resource families that can really
connect with these young people. The
more families we have, the more kids we
can serve and the better matches we can
make.”
County partners provide most funds,
but Stanford is grateful for donations that
help provide quality of life for children and
resource families, such as school supplies,
academic tutoring, sports equipment or
music lessons. Community support also
helps cover training for Stanford staff and
families.
Heintz is eager to partner with regional
businesses on a workforce development
initiative to bring skill building, mentorship,
internships, and job placement to
transitional age youth, 18 to 21 years old,
who are stepping into adulthood. “Please
help us help them build their skills,” she
says. “They’re eager to learn and find their
talents.”
YOUTHSOLUTIONS.ORG

Heintz and her team will strive to
increase the number of resource families
to 100 by 2019, with an ultimate goal of
establishing 100 percent permanency for
every child and youth, whether returning
to their original families or building new
ones. “It’s critical for these kids and all
of our community that they have a sense
of belonging and permanency,” she
concludes.
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