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The group home program
consists of two homes located in the Hayward/ San Leandro
area. Each home can house up to six youth between the ages
of 14-18. The group home program is emancipation focused,
preparing youth for self sustained, autonomous living by helping
them acquire the skills and competency needed to make independent
and informed plans for their future. The program is a milieu
model in which a supervisor and masters level social worker
lead the treatment team working on-line in the houses. The
social worker's presence in the milieu creates the opportunity
for treatment to become a seamless part of the culture in
the milieu rather than a distinct, separate function that
happens offsite.
The group home programs utilize a program that
originates from the growing research demonstrating the lack
of preparation foster youth have upon emancipating from the
system. More importantly, it stems from research identifying
methods that appear to be effective in supporting foster youths
successful transition to independent living. The two guiding
principles are: 1) a youth development philosophy that empowers
youth and places them at the forefront of their treatment
and 2) an intentional life skills and emancipation planning
program. The program provides guidelines for youth and staff
to establish, and meet specific goals together in order to
support the youth in the learning of life skills necessary
for independent living and, at the same time, develop a sound
emancipation plan.
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