Family Victories from Youth Villages, East Tennessee

Youth Villages named best place to work

Lofton family continues to help children

David’s finally settling in at home with family

Sara’s smileMentoring builds self-esteem, helps family

Summer 2010

A message from our director

Mike Bruns, ChairmanJim Parrish, Vice ChairmanPaul Bower, TreasurerJimmy Lackie, SecretaryJim Barton Jr.Eric BoltonJoyce BroffittKenneth CampbellLewis Holland Sr.John HutchinsJoanna JacobsonRev. Robert Earl JonesBryan JordanKen MayMark MedfordJohnny PittsRay PohlmanJennifer QueenRonnie RandallMatthew TarkentonDavid TylerBetsy WalkupGeorge WhitePatrick Lawler, CEO

Chattanooga5741 Cornelison Road6400 BuildingChattanooga, TN 37411phone: 423-954-8890 fax: 423-954-8880

Johnson City3915 Bristol Hwy #101Johnson City, TN 37601phone: 423-283-6500 fax: 423-283-6550

Knoxville9111 Cross Park Drive, Suite E475Knoxville, TN 37923phone: 865-560-2550 fax: 865-560-2580

Morristown225 West First North Street, Suite 302Millenium Square BuildingMorristown, TN 37814phone: 423-522-2200 fax: 423-522-2180

Youth VillagesBoard of DirectorsMentoring, fostering

make a difference

Each day in East Tennessee, Youth Villages provides services to more than 450 children in many different ways. Counselors assist young people transitioning into adult life and responsibilities, and other counselors visit

families in their homes to help create safe, loving environments where children can thrive.

In this newsletter, our first in East Tennessee, we highlight a family who benefited from our in-home services, as well as a young adult who is receiving support through our Transitional Living program.

Youth Villages also provides foster home placements and mentoring for young people. Read about the Loftons, a family fostering two teenagers, and Sara, a young girl being mentored by a Youth Villages counselor. Davina, Sara’s mentor, is a clinical supervisor in one of our offices. As a mentor, she has fostered a social and creative side to Sara that was previously hidden. Please read their stories and consider becoming a foster parent or mentor.

About 20 mentors are needed in East Tennessee. Youth Villages has a contract with the state to provide mentors for teenagers who are not in Youth Villages’ care. As a mentor, you also get an opportunity to be a positive role model for a young person. See what happens when you take an interest and give a few hours a month to help a young person.

The Loftons were foster parents for many years before relocating to East Ten-nessee. They even adopted three of their foster children, all of whom are in col-lege. After seeing the need for foster parents in Tennessee, they decided to help once again. Mr. Lofton challenges us in the story to see what we’re made of and help, saying he received more in return.

We’re glad to share the stories of how we’ve helped children, but I also want you to know about our volunteers, people in our community delivering on a per-sonal commitment to help children. Time, money, clothes, supplies or simply an interest — any help you give means more East Tennessee children will have stories to tell similar to the ones in our newsletter.

Thank you for your support of Youth Villages.

Amanda TillmanDirector of East Tennessee865-560-2550amanda.tillman@youthvillages.org

Youth Villages East Tennessee Offices

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Program SuccessAs a national leader in the field of behavioral health,

Youth Villages has measured outcomes of children

and families participating in its programs since 1994.

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The NonProfit Times and Best Companies Group have named Youth Villages one of the 50 Best Nonprofit Organizations to Work For in the United States.

The annual survey and award pro-gram was designed to identify, rec-ognize and honor the best places of employment in the non profit sector.

The 2010 list of 50 Best Nonprofit Organizations to Work For was chosen in a two-part process.

The primary part, which made up 75

percent of the evaluation, consisted of a randomized employee survey. The survey allowed employees to rank their organizations in eight key areas, including leadership and planning, cor-porate culture and communications, work environment, relationship with supervisor and pay/benefits.

The second part consisted of evalu-ating each organization’s workplace policies, practices, philosophy, sys-tems and demographics.

Youth Villages and the American

Heart Association were the only two nonprofits in the Top 50 with more than 2,000 employees.

“This is a great honor for Youth Villages,” said Patrick W. Lawler, chief executive officer. “Our employees are on the front lines every day, helping children who have sometimes suffered from abuse and neglect, and have very challenging mental health issues.

“On our residential campuses, they are responsible for meeting children’s needs 24 hours a day; through our in-home and community programs, coun-selors respond at all hours to families in crisis. It’s inspiring to know they gave our organization such top ratings.”

YV one of best places to work

Intercept intensive in-home servicesIntercept provides help to troubled children and families in

their own homes at times convenient for the families. Coun-selors with small case loads focus on helping the child and family at home, in school, and in the community. The pro-gram serves children of any age who have serious emotional and behavioral problems.

Transitional LivingIn 1999, Youth Villages, through a grant from The Day

Foundation, began a Transitional Living program to help young people get a good start on adulthood in the crucial years between ages 17 and 22.

Transitional Living counselors help young people learn to deal with the minor and major problems that come with adulthood. They help participants find housing and health services, learn how to access transportation and meet their basic needs. Counselors teach life skills like budgeting, menu planning and grocery shopping. They help young people learn the skills needed to find and keep jobs, and sometimes help them reunite with their families.

Also in East TennesseeYouth Villages also provides foster care and adoption ser-

vices for children in East Tennessee, as well as crisis services for psychiatric emergencies. In addition, Youth Villages has partnered with the state to provide mentors to young people who aren’t participating in a Youth Villages program.

Success is defined as living at home with family. All youth who receive at least 60 days of service from Youth Villages are surveyed at 6, 12 and 24 months following discharge. The graph reflects information gathered from June 2000 through March 2010.

East Tennessee offers services to help children

Delorse and Sherman Lofton are cut from old cloth.

To them, family means more than be-ing related. Their living room has many family pictures, graduation photos and photos of a lot of happy, smiling chil-dren.

The Loftons have been foster parents going on 30 years, and have adopted three children. As of April, they were fostering Caitlyn, 14, and her sister, Cailee, 12.

“Growing up, my best friend was adopted,” Sherman said. “I was raised by my grandparents, and most of the children I grew up around were living with foster parents or extended family.”

The Loftons moved to the Knoxville area about 10 years ago from Michi-gan, and although they had no plans to

resume being foster parents, once here, they saw the need and called Youth Villages.

“You don’t know where the child is coming from, but you can make your home a place where they feel at home,” Delorse said. “You love them as if they’re your own, give them a clean bed and make sure they feel like there’s some worth being in the world.”

With their adopted children in col-lege, Delorse found out she still had the energy and desire to help. Many times in Michigan, the Loftons’ home was a place the children and their friends would come for good food and fellow-ship. Most importantly, though, Delorse and Sherman knew where their children were and what they were doing.

“There’s a need and we can help,” Sherman said. “But you have to under-stand with children that you can’t really raise them the way you were raised – they have to know and feel love in the home.”

Where a child feels at home

About 30 children in East Tennes-see need a foster home right now.

These children need caring families to give them a safe home and meet their emotional needs. Becoming a foster parent is one of the most rewarding ways to have a positive and long-lasting impact on a child. To be a foster parent, you must:

n be 25 years of age or older

n be legally married or single (if married you must have been married for at least one year)

n be a resident of the state of Ten-nesse and have a valid Tennessee driver’s license

n be employed or have viable income

n have adequate space in your home

n have a working automobile and auto insurance, as well as homeown-er’s or renter’s insurance

n complete the required training and certification process.

Youth Villages provides a wide array of support to foster parents, including free training and therapy for child and family, 24-hour on-call sup-port for children and foster families and much more.

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After more than two decades fostering children in Michigan, the Loftons continue helping in East Tennessee

Sherman and Delorse Lofton

To become a foster parent...

continued on page 7

Contactkristin.stucker@youthvillages.org

865-560-2558

If you can commit at least six hours a month to a child, you have the time to be a mentor. Mentors are more than friends. Many times, they are the first positive adult

role model a child has ever had. To become a mentor, visit youthvillages.org /mentor or call 423-954-8862.

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All four brothers had difficult child-hoods, suffering neglect and physical abuse. They spent most of their young years going from one foster family to another – nearly 30 in two years. And while all of the children suffered, it ap-peared to affect David the most.

Shirley and Carl adopted David and his three brothers when all of them were very young.

“When we adopted the children, David was 2,” Shirley said. “Two broth-ers are older, and one is younger. We had no clue about ADHD or Reactive Attachment Disorder or anything like that. We learned as we went along.”

Shirley and Carl’s neighbors were foster parents, and they watched the children sometimes to help out. The boys’ past was a true horror story of neglect and abuse, Shirley said, and David got the worst of it. The problems started just as the brothers began to find stability and security in their lives. David became physically aggressive with his mother and his three brothers. He set fires and stole things.

David turned 10 years old in a residential treatment center, his fam-ily’s fifth attempt to address and handle his behavior issues that mom said had unknown triggers.

“We never knew what would set him off,” she said. “Many times, it was

Finding the right place takes timeDavid’s ready to settle down with his family

Davina Bolinger has taken a special interest in what Sara does.

In a few short months, it has made an enormous difference.

Last summer, Bolinger, a clinical su-pervisor at Youth Villages’ Morristown, Tenn. office, was told about a child who was a perfect match for her to mentor.

Sara suffered trichotillomania, and pulled out her hair, eyelashes and eye-brows.

She always went out with a cap and jacket, and became increasingly reclu-sive. Her grades began to suffer as well.

Then Davina became Sara’s mentor.“Davina has been a godsend,” said

Jean, Sara’s mother. “She’s become part of the family.”

Sara’s now a totally different girl. The once quiet teenager is quiet no more.

“Sara’s very outgoing and much more talkative,” Bolinger said. “Her self-confi-dence has skyrocketed.”

So have her grades, as she recently was named to the A/B honor roll at her school.

She’s also a candidate for acceler-ated classes and has taken a serious interest in drawing and painting.

In East Tennessee and across the state, mentors are needed to make a difference in the lives of children. Many

continued on page 7 continued on page 7

Youth Villages Clinical Supervisor Davina Bolinger, Sara and Jean

Taking Sara out of her shellSoon-to-be teen becomes self-confident, finds hidden talents with mentoring

The Harvard Business School recently completed a case study that examines Youth Villages’ growth and impact as a national leader in the field of children’s behavioral health in the last decade.

Written by HBS Professor Allen Grossman, Catherine Ross of the HBS Global Research Group

and William Foster, a partner at the Bridgespan Group, the case study explores Youth Villages’ innovative treatment approach, use of research in program de-velopment and targeted growth strategies.

The case on Youth Villages was written for inclusion in a new course at HBS called “Leading

and Governing Highly Effective Nonprofit Orga-nizations.”

“Youth Villages is a highly ef-fective organization with quality leadership and a proven ap-proach,” Grossman says.

The complete case study is available at harvardbusiness.org.

Amanda’s moving forward

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Amanda generally accomplishes what she sets her mind to do. She didn’t have a stable living situation. Her grades in high school were suffering. She needed backup.

Normally independent and strong-willed, a concerned school administra-tor contacted Youth Villages.

Amanda wanted a high school di-ploma and attend college. She would like to be a teacher.

But to reach such goals as these, she needed a guide. Amanda began to participate in Youth Villages’ Transi-tional Living program. Amber Blakley, TL specialist, was one of Amanda’s counselors.

“We first worked on finding a stable and positive place for her to live,” Blak-ley said. “Then we worked on improving her job skills.”

Transitional Living counselors help young people learn to deal with the

minor and major problems that come with adulthood. They help participants find housing and health services, learn how to access transportation and meet their basic needs. Counselors teach life skills like budgeting, menu planning and grocery shopping.

Young people in the Transitional Liv-ing program set education and career goals. For some, this means obtaining a GED or high school diploma. For oth-ers, it means applying for college schol-arships or attending vocational training. Staff provides assistance with selecting a career, developing a resume, applying for jobs and preparing for job inter-views. A Transitional Living Specialist may also help a young person learn to get along with co-workers and supervi-sors in the workplace.

Amanda wants to be a teacher.“Amber was great support for me,”

Amanda said. “We had disagreements,

but I realize now that she was looking out for me and she did love and care for me. I kind of miss it.”

Amanda was able to get a car and will soon sign the lease for an apartment.

“No matter what people have told her, she’s been able to set goals and reach them,” Blakley said. “She’s come back from a lot and is moving forward toward what will be a great future.”

Harvard study lauds Youth Villages

Transitional Living program helps and supports Amanda in her efforts to achieve personal and professional goals

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“Our children were raised in the church,” Delorse said. “At night, we knew where our children were – they were home.”

Many of the children fostered in the Lofton home remember them. Some don’t. All are welcomed as part of the family, including Caitlyn and Cailee.

Youth Villages offers free information sessions periodically for those interested in seeing if foster parenting is right for them. For information, call 865-560-2558 or visit www.YouthVillages.org/foster.

“Being a foster parent is very reward-ing,” Sherman said. “So many children need help from good people. People should see what they’re made of and see if they can do it.”

something unpredictable.”Her persistence paid off. David’s re-

cent discharge after a year in a residen-tial facility was given based on Youth Villages providing in-home services for the family. Senior Family Counselor Whitney Vowels then began working with David and his family.

“Right from the beginning, the family was very open and receptive to any recommendations given to them,” she said. “Shirley and Carl were committed to providing David with all the help he needed.”

David made marked progress in the residential program, Vowels said, and once he was home, she worked with the family to increase the structure and consistency in the home. She worked with David on anger management. She worked with the school to set up an individualized education plan for his academic and behavioral needs. Most important, Vowels worked with mom and dad so they were comfortable enforcing rules, rewards and conse-quences.

“Whitney really did her job,” Shirley said. “She supported me and the fam-ily, and left no stone unturned when it came to helping David. I’ve dealt with many family services, and they were nothing compared to her. She went above and beyond to help us.”

David, who turns 12 in July, has a good chance at a successful future. Mom said her goals for the children were to get through school and to be productive. Her hard work paid off, as she reports David’s behavior has changed significantly.

“He’s a different kid; he has a chance at life now,” she said. “It’s been a dif-ficult time, but there is help out there if you keep looking. With David, we finally found the right people.”

teenagers are unsure of themselves and reluctant to try new things or activities. A mentor offers another outlet for teen-agers, giving them an opportunity to pursue interests they may be reluctant to do at home.

Bolinger and Sara go to the movies, shop and have visited the zoo. Jean said while they are still mother and daughter and everything that goes with that, Bolinger’s positive influence has made a marked improvement in Sara’s actions and behavior.

“They usually spend the day togeth-er,” Jean said about Bolinger and Sara. “Sara comes home and can’t stop telling me about it – I don’t know where Sara would be without Davina, and I don’t know what we’d do without her.”

Loftonsfrom page 4

Sarafrom page 5

Davidfrom page 5

“I’m happy to be part of an organization com-mitted to helping children. I’m thankful our com-munity shares that commitment.”

Gary Johnson, Development Manager 865-560-2075, gary.johnson@youthvillages.org

How you can helpn Set up a sustaining gift online at www.youthvillages.org/

donate. Simply fill in a monthly contribution amount, check the sustaining gift option and then select the gift duration you wish.

Stay in touch online

www.facebook.com/youthvillages

www.twitter.com/youthvillages

www.youthvillages.wordpress.com

Founded in Memphis, Tenn., in 1986, Youth Villages has built a national reputation for offering the most effective pro-grams and services to help emotionally troubled children and their families. The private nonprofit organization provides a fully integrated continuum of services, including residential treatment, in-home services, foster care and adoption, mentoring and a transitional living program for young adults aging out of foster care.

Please write to Youth Villages’ Knoxville office if you wish to have your name removed from our mailing list.

New Heights East Tennessee is published by Youth Villages

Managing editor: Gary Johnson

Associate editor: Chris Pennington

YOUTH VILLAGES9111 Cross Park Drive, Suite E475Knoxville, TN 37923(Address Service Requested)

Non-Profit OrganizationU.S. Postage PaidPermit No. 1324

A private nonprofit organization, Youth Villages serves more than15,000 children and their families from offices in the following cities:Alabama: Anniston, Birmingham, Dothan, Huntsville, MobileArkansas: Jonesboro, Little RockFlorida: Lakeland, Miami, TampaGeorgia: Atlanta, DouglasvilleMassachusetts: Lawrence, Woburn, WorcesterMississippi: Biloxi, Hattiesburg, Hernando, Jackson, TupeloNew Hampshire: ManchesterNorth Carolina: Asheville, Charlotte, Concord, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Greenville, Hickory, Pinehurst, Raleigh-Durham, WilmingtonTennessee: Chattanooga, Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Dickson, Dyersburg, Jackson, Johnson City,Knoxville, Linden, Memphis, Morristown, Nashville, ParisTexas: DallasVirginia: Arlington, RoanokeWashington, D.C.

Attn: Gary Johnson9111 Cross Park Drive, Suite E475

Knoxville, TN 37923