Youth Homes

The Tom Roy Youth Guidance Home

The Tom Roy Youth Guidance Home  |  2824 West Central Missoula, MT 59804

Program Definition
The Tom Roy Youth Guidance Home offers care, guidance and supervision to older adolescents, ages 16 to18, placed in the public foster care and juvenile justice system that are not able to be in a family but need to learn transitional living skills for successful emancipation.

Beliefs
Youth need adult support and guidance until such time as they are able to function as independent adults. A high school diploma (or equivalency) is critical to future earnings and success as an independent adult for any person. The longer a youth can live in a family style situation the better equipped he or she will be in having a happy and healthy family as an adult.

Location
The home is located in the Target Range neighborhood, close to Big Sky High School and available to public transportation and easily within bicycle commuting for any young person. The home sits on a developed acre with another 1.5 acres that is being utilized as a neighborhood farm (see North Avenue Youth Farm) and for employment for some of our residents.

Target Population
The Tom Roy Youth Guidance Home is designed to offer older adolescents the training and support to successfully transition into adulthood and, in many cases, exit successfully out of child services and youth court services. The issues these young people face and bring with them to the Tom Roy Youth Guidance Home range from failure to find permanence in a family to chemical abuse to emotional turmoil to incarceration.

Criteria for Admission
The Tom Roy Youth Guidance Home is a structured, home-style, group home employing shift staff and 24-hour awake supervision and care in order to serve and meet the needs of:

1. both boys and girls ages of 16 and 18
2. youth not appropriate to foster care as evidenced by age, behavior or motivation to be in a family
3. youth under the custody of the child and family services
4. youth under the custody of the youth courts
5. youth under the supervision of juvenile parole
6. youth in need of some structure, adult support and guidance and a safe place to live until emancipation
7. youth needing help with emancipation, preparation for independent living and/or transition to adulthood
8. youth struggling with chemical abuse issues
9. “hyper-mature” youth needing a facilitative setting with some guidance
10. youth who do not present a significant threat to themselves, others or the community and whose daily needs can be met there

Application
Anyone interested in placing a young person at our Tom Roy Youth Guidance Home is encouraged to call our contact persons first to discuss the appropriateness of and details involved in any placement. We do require a written application and social history.  The application can be downloaded here. The completed application can be delivered, mailed or emailed. The application will be reviewed and submitted to our Admissions Committee, comprised of staff of the Youth Home as well as other community agency and referring agency staff with input from staff of the Tom Roy Youth Guidance Home, within 2 weeks in most all cases. We may need additional information to make any final determination. Our staff will contact the referring person or persons within 24-hours of a decision.

Staffing Design

1. The program is operated under the leadership of a Program Director with 5 full-time youth care workers and a full time home manager.
2. The program director is a master social worker and responsible for overseeing the program, case planning and supervision of line staff.
3. The 5 full time youth care workers oversee the daily routine, do informal counseling and mentoring, act as role models and provide recreational and cultural activities in and outside the home.
4. The home manager manages the day-to-day functioning of the environment to assure that the Tom Roy Youth Guidance Home is as home-like as possible and appropriate.
5. Relief youth care workers serve to fill in for youth care workers when they need to be absent for training or leave time as well as used to enhance the staff to youth ratio when needed.

Program Structure
At the Tom Roy Youth Guidance Home, youngsters receive:

• a safe, stable and creative environment with weekly group sessions fostering critical thinking and relationship building
• transitional living skill development featuring a curriculum focusing on work ethics, basic living and relationships and delivered in groups, classroom-type settings and individually in one-on-one opportunities
• trained and skilled staff who provide individual mentoring and tutorial for accomplishing individual case goals
• access to youth employment programs, private employment opportunities, work placement agencies and evaluation of career interest for work-development opportunities
• a structured daily program, including school, educational and recreational activities, with a privilege system that teaches social skills, encourages positive behavior and advocates personal responsibility
• access to community services, including education, employment, recreation, culture, therapy and health care
• focus on cultural identity development. Each youth is given a multi-ethnic identity assessment and individual goals are added to their treatment plans.