Chambliss Center for Children officially broke ground on Friday on residences for its new Transitional Living Program.
In an effort to assist teens “aging out” of the foster care system, who, in many circumstances become homeless, Chambliss Center for Children is adding Transitional Living to its Residential Program. Friday’s groundbreaking was for phase one of the housing aspect of the program, two duplexes, each with two one-bedroom units. In addition to housing, this program will offer counseling and training in basic life skills, such as financial planning and budgeting, cooking, interviewing and job readiness skills. Funding for the duplexes will be provided by the Robert L. & Kathrina H. Maclellan Foundation and The Maclellan Foundation Inc. The project should be completed in four to six months.
Nationally, around 19 percent of children in foster homes are age 16 or older, with nearly 20,000 youth aging out of thesystem each year. In Hamilton County, around 90 children aged out of fostercare last year. Teens can stay with a foster family for as long as they arewelcome, but teens in a group home, such as the one at Chambliss Center forChildren, are required to leave the day they turn 18. These young adults can remain in foster care up to age 21, if they are enrolled in high school or higher education program. Therefore, the need for transitional living, for young people 18 and older, is crucial for them to continue receiving support as they enter adulthood and prepare for the future.
“As youth age out of the foster care system, it is vital that they have a support system in place to help them navigate this transition to adulthood,” said Liz Blasbery, executive director of Chambliss Center for Children’s Residential Program. “Young adults typically need assistance and guidance from their biological families long past the age of 18, leaving many youth in foster care without this safety net. We are excited to have the opportunity to provide this much needed service in our community.”
The Chambliss Center for Children is a local non-profit organization that has been caring for this community’s children 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year for 144 years. The mission of the agency is to preserve family unity and to help prevent the dependency, neglect, abuse and delinquency of children by responding to the community’s child care needs. This is done by providing affordable, accessible and quality care for over 650 children every day through an Early Childhood Education and Extended Child Care Program, as well as a Residential Program, which recruits and trains foster families and operates a group home for children in state custody. In addition to these two programs, the agency also manages five off-site childcare centers and educates and cares for the young children of teachers in eleven Hamilton County Schools. For more information, visit www.chamblisscenter.org or call 423 698-2456.