Get Involved

If you can help once or once a month, we need you! There are many ways you can step in on behalf of kids.

Foster Families

We train and support foster families to provide safe, stable, nurturing homes for children who have been neglected.

Training Institute

We offer evidence-based, trauma-informed, and research-based training to support the well-being of kids.

Behavioral Health

Our program offers comprehensive mental health services for children of all ages, as well as their families.

Serving Children. Equipping Parents. Transforming Lives.

Focus on Youth, Inc. exists to help the most vulnerable among us—children who have suffered abuse and neglect, experienced trauma, or struggle with behavior issues. We are a faith-based, non-profit agency committed to transforming children’s lives and equipping all parents with the knowledge and skills necessary to care for vulnerable children.

Serving southwest Ohio youth and families since 1992, we specialize in:

  • Behavioral health services for youth and families.
  • Trauma informed care that addresses the long-term effects of trauma.
  • Recruiting and licensing quality foster homes.
  • Carefully matching foster families to youth based on the strengths and needs of each.
  • Exceptional support to resource families.
  • Professional training and development programs for foster and adoptive parents, kinship providers, biological parents, the community, and helping professionals.

Why Focus on Youth?

Whether you are considering foster parenting or are overwhelmed with a child’s behavior, when you choose Focus on Youth, you will experience:

  • Our dedication to trauma prevention and recovery in EVERY aspect of our services.
  • Highly skilled, licensed counselors who specialize in play and trauma-based therapies.
  • The partnership of our dedicated staff who have years of experience in foster care and adoption, not only as social workers, but also as adoptive parents, as siblings to foster and adopted youth, and even as adopted youth themselves.
  • Expert training, giving you the tools you need to thrive as parents of vulnerable children.
2303

Foster Children Served

211

Children Reached By Behavioral Health Department Last Year

40

Caring Staff working for Kids and Families

236

combined years of experience serving youth and families

We Practice Trauma Informed Care

According to CDC statistics on abuse and violence in the United States, one in four children experiences some sort of maltreatment (physical, sexual, or emotional abuse) each year. Because trauma is so common, it is important that staff at Focus on Youth are equipped to respond to the trauma needs of our clients. Trauma Informed Care seeks to minimize the effects of trauma while understanding the impact trauma has on a child’s development. We choose this type of care because our clients deserve a safe environment to receive services and practitioners who are sensitive to their individual trauma needs.

Voices of Foster Care

15,000 Ohio children lived in foster care in 2018. Only 7,200 of them lived with families. The numbers are staggering. But in the midst of those numbers and the enormity of the need, there are real people just like you, choosing to make a child’s life better. Whether they impact one life or hundreds, they are voices of hope. They are voices of foster care, and these are a few of their stories.