Several residential facilities for children and teens who require special care are located in Peoria.
When you think of residential care homes, it often brings to mind images of assisted-living facilities filled with elderly patients who can no longer live on their own. But residential care homes for children can be quite different. Though there are some young people whose health requires them to be in nursing or assisted-living homes. Children in these care homes are often there because of social, emotional or behavioral issues.
Children's Home Association of Illinois
This facility is based in Peoria but has five locations in which a variety of services are offered, including foster care and private schooling. The association operates a residential cottage where children with behavioral, emotional, social or sexual dysfunction receive round-the-clock care. After treatment, the facility's main objective is to return children to their homes or foster care or help them transition to living independently.
Guardian Angel Home
This is a long-term facility for boys between the ages of 6 and 18 that treats social and emotional issues. The home is operated by the Catholic Charities Diocese of Peoria, and residents often are wards of the state who are referred by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Therapists and caseworkers strive to place residents into permanent foster care or integrate them into society after they complete the program.
Lutheran Social Services of Illinois
This social service agency is based in DesPlaines but has branches in Peoria, as well as two residential programs for teens, located in Nachusa. One is a treatment center for teens on probation, offered as an alternative to a juvenile detention facility. The other is an inpatient, substance abuse program for adolescents with drug or alcohol problems. Referrals can come from a probation center, another social service agency or from the community.
Crittenton Centers
The Crisis Nursery at Crittenton Centers provides free child care for families in crisis situations, 24 hours a day, every day. Newborns through children 6 years of age and their parents or legal guardians who are residents of the counties of Peoria, Tazewell or Woodford are eligible for the Crisis Nursery. Families will be referred to an appropriate agency, if necessary, and the Crisis Nursery will follow up with calls and visits to monitor their situations.
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