Residential Services
Good Shepherd Services has provided superior residential programming for adolescents since the dawn of the modern child welfare system. Our residential services have evolved over the past century and a half in line with advances in the field of social services, even at times setting the pace with new and innovative programming, without ever losing sight of our ultimate goal of helping vulnerable young people and families make a safe passage to self-sufficiency. We provide safe, nurturing environments that promote trust and caring relationships, and set high expectations while providing our residents with the supports, services and opportunities they need to overcome the issues that led to placement and develop the life-skills they will need for a successful future.
Diagnostic Reception Center
Euphrasian Residence, our Diagnostic Reception Center, serves teenage girls in crisis who have been referred by the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. The young women receive a comprehensive psychological, psychiatric, medical and educational evaluation by professional staff to fully assess their needs and determine the best possible long-term solution for continued care. During a stay of up to 12 weeks, residents attend school on-site, and participate in a variety of therapeutic, social and recreational activities.
Community Group Residence
Marian Hall, our community group residence, serves teenage girls who are unable to live at home and have been referred by the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. The residence is an open setting, where the young women are able to come and go to school or jobs in the community, maintain regular contact with their families and participate in social activities, while still being a safe and structured environment where they comprehensive services to resolve the problems that led to placement and prepare them for independent adulthood. These services include individual, group and family therapy, job readiness activities, educational and vocational counseling, medical care, mentoring and recreational activities.
Aftercare/Permanency
We know that even in ideal circumstances, reaching legal adulthood does not automatically confer the ability to successfully live independently, or lessen the need for permanent, nurturing connections, and so we provide a range of services to youth who age out of our Administration for Children’s Services residential programs. These services include case management, counseling, referrals and linkages, educational and vocational counseling, concrete services and advocacy. We also continue to promote permanent connections to caring adults for these youth, including family reunification and adoption.
Supervised Independent Living Program
Through the Supervised Independent Living program (SLIP) of the Administration for Children’s Services we provide supportive services including counseling, vocational training and life skills development, to young women and men preparing to transition from foster care to independent living in the community. SLIP participants live with minimal supervision at our Chelsea Foyer at the Christopher program as well in a separate Manhattan apartment.
Supportive Housing
The Chelsea Foyer at the Christopher provides supportive housing to young adults in their late teens or early twenties who have aged out of the child welfare system, are homeless, or at risk of homelessness. Based on a successful European model, our Foyer program was one of the first of its kind in the United States, and the very first Foyer anywhere to specialize in serving former foster care youth. The young men and women live semi-independently, in studio apartments or suites, while receiving a holistically integrated continuum of services to help them gain the competencies and confidence necessary for long-term self-sufficiency. Case management services are offered on-site, as are linkages to rigorous job training and placement, educational and life skills development
Group Homes for Youth Involved with the Juvenile Justice System
The Barbara Blum and Nelson Mandela House Department of Juvenile Justice Non-Secure Detention (NSD) Residences provide temporary residential and supportive services for teenage boys awaiting family court outcomes, and the Peter Jay Sharp House Department of Juvenile Justice Non-Secure Detention Residence provides identical services for teenage girls. The residences offer a safe and nurturing environment for the young people as well as a range of positive interventions aimed a preventing a return to custody.
- Sharp House alum
