As you may recall, several years ago we were approached by La Crosse County about a need in the community for a Level 5 Treatment Foster Care Home. To fill this need, Family & Children’s Center built a home on Barlow Street, neighboring our Weston facility. The home was built with the intention to provide a less institutionalized, more home-like setting for youth on the autism spectrum who need a “forever home”.
Opening the Level 5 home has been delayed due to difficulty finding staff, but yesterday, August 22nd, the Level 5 home opened on a conditional and temporary basis. This was made possible through collaboration with other area agencies that allowed us to provide enough staff for the home to open. Through a referral from La Crosse County, the Level 5 home is now providing placement to a minor client who had previously been living in an institution outside our county and who had frequently been bounced around between placements.
Our conditional approval from the State will be in place until 9/30/16. By that date, we hope to have hired and trained enough staff to fully take over operations of our Level 5 house in order for it to remain open. Thank you to everyone involved for their hard work in getting Level 5 open and ready to be a forever home!