Residential Treatment Services

Catholic Guardian Society and Home Bureau’s Residential Treatment Services division has an array of community-based specialized services that are offered in homes and apartments located in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. Youth, between the ages of 13 and 21, who are unable to handle the intimacy of a foster home are placed by the Administration of Children’s Services in Group Homes and Agency Operated Boarding Homes. The ultimate goal of placement is to work with each resident and their family to achieve permanency, whether it is the return to parents or to another discharge resource. In addition to preparing residents for appropriate discharge, the program is committed to providing youth with education, employment, and independent living skills. Several of the homes focus on a specialized population and are staffed with professionals who are trained to provide expert treatment.

Regular Group Homes

Regular Group Homes are residences for youngsters who require the support and guidance of residential staff and a caseworker, but who do not need intensive mental health services. Youngsters who reside in this residence are independent, inasmuch as they attend school and/or work on their own. These adolescents are close to either reunification or independent living.

Assertive Community Treatment Homes

Our Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) model is a community-based alternative to psychiatric hospital placement, in which youth are provided with comprehensive mental health services. These homes service youngsters who have a diagnosed psychiatric illness, often with the co-morbidity of substance abuse. Services include psychiatric, psychological, behavioral, nursing, therapeutic, and substance abuse prevention. Weekly clinical meetings are held that include the entire multidisciplinary team and, if possible, the resident and the family. Linkages with psychiatric hospitals are in place, to service the resident who requires more intensive clinical services in a residential setting.

Rapid Assessment Service Centers

Our Rapid Assessment Service Centers are community-based diagnostic centers in which residents receive, within 30 days of admission, psychiatric, psychological, and psychosocial evaluations. If indicated, recommendations for medication are made. Treatment is immediately initiated by the on-site clinical team. In order to expedite the most appropriate placement and to update the team on the resident’s progress, weekly clinical meetings are held. The residents and their biological families are invited to clinical meetings. Placement recommendations are shared with the Administration for Children’s Services and referrals are made. If there is a vacancy within the continuum of services offered by the agency, the team, in collaboration with ACS, places the child in the home most suited to address those needs addressed in the evaluations.

Mother-Child Group Homes

The Mother-Child Group Homes are residences for teenaged mothers and their children. In an effort to promote maternal bonding, each mother and child dyad is assigned their own room. Emphasis in the home is on the teaching of parenting skills and healthy nutrition. In addition to the residential staff, a nurse who teaches infant preventative health care is part of the treatment team.

Agency Operated Boarding Homes

Similar to the Group Homes, the Agency Operated Boarding Homes are designed for residents who are more independent and capable of following the daily routine with less supervision. Therefore, the level of staffing is less than that of a Group Home.