COVID-19 forced Youth Villages to make quick changes to programming in early March, but we’re continuing to meet the needs of our group home residents, children, families and young people during the pandemic.

The family is the foundation of everything we do at Youth Villages. Because of COVID-19, we eliminated face-to-face visits with our clients in March. It’s been very hard on children and their parents, even though they’ve been able to connect digitally through telehealth. As COVID-19 restrictions ease, we’re working with state officials to begin in-person visits safely – with social distancing and masking protocols. This is an important step in our “new normal” that will ease anxieties and mean so much to our kids and families.

In the meantime, thanks to donations, we have provided computers and smart phones to families in outlying, rural areas in order to continue teletherapy and virtual visits. We’ve also helped families and young people with rent and gift cards for groceries and other essential daily items.

The health and well-being of our staff is always a top priority at Youth Villages. During the COVID-19 crisis, leadership has been carefully monitoring staff health. Our community-based staff are still working from their homes, supporting families and young people through telehealth and face-to-face visits when needed. Every office around the country will be opening based on COVID-19 guidelines in their communities, office layouts and other factors. We are renovating our main office in Nashville and will likely be working remotely for the next several months.

Thank you for your support during this unprecedented time. We couldn’t do it without all of you!