Our Model of Care
Our model of care is simple, raise kids in a family-like setting. Kids who have been hurt through relationships are best healed through relationships. We use a House Parent model, underscored with principles from Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI) and Grace Based Parenting. Our homes are these kids’ homes, for however long they need a home, even after they turn 18 and are no longer a part of the State’s system. The house parent model is best explained like a professional foster family, a mom and dad supported by a handful of amazing aunts.
Gigi’s Cottage is a girl’s home and our kids have ranged in age from 7 to 18. Our girls come to us from different circumstances and Gigi’s Cottage is always a step in the right direction for them. Our model of care helps our girls move towards permanency - to a foster family, adoptive or kinship placement, reunification with mom or dad, or to support them as they age towards independence. We are available as long as our girls need us.
Our home is located in a kid-friendly neighborhood with a good school system, a local park within walking distance, and a safe environment. Gigi’s Cottage feels like a home. The furniture was designed and custom-made specific to the needs of a therapeutic connected environment. For instance, we needed a dining room table large enough for 12 people. While there were plenty of people willing to donate a large rectangular table, we needed a round table without a “head” or “foot,” where everyone seated had the same connected seat. The solution came when we found a former display table from The Gap and it fits our home perfectly. Gigi’s Cottage was designed to provide the warmth associated with a home, a place that gives each resident a “pride of ownership,” with rooms and space designed for a kid, including a swimming pool and trampoline. We honor them with an amazing 3-story home that matches how much we care about them.
Since opening, both DCS Case Managers and other professionals from the various social service organizations who support our kids applaud the work we are doing and recognize the difference our model of care makes in the lives of the kids. This should not be a surprise; like taking a seed out of a seed pack, once that seed is placed in soil and given water and sunlight, we cannot marvel at the sprout. Similarly, if you place hurting kids in an environment that promotes healing – a connected family – healing will happen.
Healing in relationships can be painful. It is hard to build trust and felt safe. TBRI® uses Empowering Principles to meet physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors (Click Here for more information).
We started Firm Foundation Youth Homes to provide hope and healing to the kids God brings to us. Since we’ve started, we now see the opportunity to change the model for group homes everywhere, creating a proven model that other providers can follow, and then advocate at state levels for a standard of care that includes much more than basic childcare, a standard that requires a trauma-informed response to these precious kids.