Children's Aid Society of West Texas Inc.

The Children’s Home, which has been at its current location since 1976, is a 26-bed facility licensed to serve children ages 2 through 17. The Children’s Home accepts primarily court ordered placements through Child Protective Services (CPS). Admission to the shelter is generally the result of abuse, neglect, and abandonment sustained in the home. While at the Children’s Home, an assessment is often conducted. The assessment process includes psychological, physical, and educational evaluations of the youth. This allows the Shelter and Caseworker to assign an accurate level of care to the youth. The intent is to be able to place the youth in the most appropriate placement as soon as possible and keep them from bouncing around the Foster Care system. Children are nurtured, loved, and educated while at the Children’s Home. Every effort is made to make what can be an unpleasant time in their lives as comfortable and happy as possible.

Juvenile Probation also places a number of youths at the Children’s Home as they transition from placement back into the home setting.

The Teen Emergency Shelter opened in 1992, specifically to meet the needs of homeless and runaway youth, deter school dropouts, and strengthen families. The TES is an eight bed coed facility licensed to accept kids ages 10 to 17. The TES is the only facility of its kind within a
100-mile radius. Admission to the shelter is voluntary, but often the result of a referral by a school, Juvenile Probation, CPS, the Police, or one of the 34 Safe Place sites in the area. The average length of stay is about two weeks.

An integral part of the Teen Shelter’s program is the counseling provided to teens and their families. The purpose of the counseling is to defuse the crisis situation, identify the problems that led to the crisis, provide the family with coping skills, and encourage an environment in which the youth can mature into a reasonably content and responsible adult. Youths receive independent living and social skills training, with an emphasis on education. The TES provides an aftercare program at no cost to the family. Substance abuse education and prevention counseling is also provided. The Teen Shelter is The Teen Shelter is Funded in part by a Health and Human Services Basic Center Grant for Runaway and Homeless Youth.

The Children’s Home and Teen Shelter are committed to providing youths, a safe, supportive environment in which they can make constructive decisions about their future and their relationships with others.