Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed. However, with nearly 40% of children in the United States living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, success is a hard-won achievement. Children from low-income families often lack parental support and supervision, which correlates to deeper issues.
Eight in every 1,000 kids under 18 in the United States were found to be neglected or abused in 2020. Even among children whose parents are more involved, the statistics are not positive. At-risk youth often have unreliable access to healthcare and deal with more emotional and social problems. They are more likely to drop out of school, become targeted for human trafficking, and commit crimes and serve prison time.
Even when governmental and other groups try to step in, there are challenges to overcome. In Virginia alone, more than 2,500 children and youth were placed into the foster care system in 2020. The overburdened system does its best to adequately serve all children who need its services, but there are always more children in need of urgent care. Mental and physical health problems, risky behaviors, and academic achievement are all concerns within the system.
Providing Support to Virginia’s Children in Need
Fortunately for residents of Virginia, there is a facility that provides additional support to children and families in Bristow. Youth for Tomorrow is a nationally accredited, 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that serves boys, girls, and families of all ages whose lives are in crisis. Their mission is to provide children and families with the opportunity to focus their lives and develop confidence, skills, intellectual ability, spiritual insight, and more integrity. The organization works to help people create positive changes not only for the child and family but also for the community and the nation.
Youth for Tomorrow offers a continuum of services as an alternative to the nation’s fragmented and overburdened child and family care systems. This organization is unique to the Northern Virginia region and delivers the right care at the right time to children and families in need of urgent care. The organization has residential facilities for at-risk youth as well as programs serving hundreds of children in local schools and private homes. They also work with children and adults in community settings.
The programs and services that Youth for Tomorrow provides all seek to help these children and families in crisis. This includes children with serious emotional or behavioral problems. There are Treatment Group Homes for boys and girls, including services to pregnant teens and domestic girls who have been sexually exploited or trafficked. There are crisis intervention counseling services for all ages as well as diagnostic and assessment services. While these services are provided on campus outside of the children’s homes, family reunification is always the ultimate goal.
Other services help families stay together through training, counseling, and other measures. Therapeutic day treatment is available as part of their outpatient services and there are intensive in-home services as well. They also have a therapeutic mentoring program.
Youth for Tomorrow is currently licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Social Services and the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services to accommodate residential placements in their shelter and residential treatment center. The organization is also licensed to provide opportunities for Therapeutic Day Treatment and Intensive-In-Home services.
Seeking Licensed Mental Health Counselors
Temporary Solutions has partnered with Youth for Tomorrow to recruit more mental health counselors and support more children in crisis. We are seeking counselors to work with teens ages 13-16 in both a home setting and a school setting. Ideally, these counselors will have a Masters Degree and already be licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Virginia. However, we are able to discuss training opportunities for candidates who have a Bachelors Degree in psychology and related fields.
These are not temporary positions! The chosen candidates will be hired directly by Youth for Tomorrow.
Some of these counseling positions require bilingual capability. If you can fluently speak, read, and write in both English and Spanish, we need you! Youth for Tomorrow has programs for at-risk children who have crossed the United States border in recent years, and they need counseling in their native language. Along with providing services in Spanish, the counselors also must be able to fill out relevant paperwork in English, hence the necessity to be fluent in both languages.
All counselors report to a program director at Youth for Tomorrow. The company has an empathetic culture, not only for its residents but also for its employees. Everyone is focused on providing the best care for these children, but they also support and encourage each other. Each of these counseling positions has a salary range of $65,000-75,000 annually, and benefits are provided.
You could be the key to a child’s success! If you or someone you know is willing and able to make a change in the lives of children, visit the Temporary Solutions website to read the job description and provide your information.