Pressley Ridge Schools helps less fortunate children
Most area children are able to enjoy the holidays in their homes with warm, caring families. But there are those less fortunate who not only spent Christmas apart from their families in an institutional setting but live in shelters, group homes or psychiatric hospitals for more extended stays that could very well be measured in years.
“Troubled children, especially those in rural areas, with a history of abuse, neglect or behavioral or emotional problems don’t have a lot of places to go,” said Don Burge, program developer at Pressley Ridge Schools, a private, non-profit organization that’s trying to better the lives of troubled children and their families.
“Unfortunately, a good many of them will end up in an institutional setting they’ll share with 10 to 20 other disturbed children. To help better their lives, the PRYDE (Pressley Ridge Youth Development Extension) model is designed to place them in therapeutic family homes and keep them connected to their neighborhood.”
The forerunner to Pressley Ridge Schools first began helping needy children in 1832, when a cholera epidemic in Pittsburgh left many children orphaned. These sad conditions prompted a group of church women to raise funds for an orphanage. By the Civil War, what originally began as the Protestant Home for Children that served a few homeless orphans grew to an organization that cared for several hundred.
In 1861, the Civil War prompted yet another group of women to establish the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Home for the Friendless, whose goal was also to care for needy children and orphans. The two homes were located within blocks of each other.
The early 1950s saw a major shift in direction for the two organizations. While the number of orphans had dropped significantly since the 1860s, the identification of children needing treatment for emotional disturbances had greatly increased. In 1969, the two orphanages thought it best to merge and join forces in helping troubled children. The new organization was aptly called Pressley Ridge, named for the streets where the child-care facilities were originally located: Pressley and Ridge.
Another landmark year was 1982, when it became apparent that too many children were being removed from their communities and placed in residential or institutional facilities. That year, the PRYDE program was inaugurated with a goal of placing behaviorally and emotionally troubled youngsters in stable, loving foster care environments that were buttressed by the services of skilled professionals. The goal of the placement, which usually ranges from three months to a year or more, is to have the children return home, be adopted or, if they’re 18 or older, move on to independent living arrangements.
“The program takes the normalness of foster care and the intensity of residential treatment service and puts the two together for the best of both worlds,” said Burge, a child clinical psychologist by education.
To become a treatment foster parent, an applicant needn’t be a psychologist or teacher. In fact, the range of foster parents is quite broad and includes blue-collar workers, professionals and teachers, as well as young parents and grandparents in its overall mix.
“One thing the foster parents all have in common is a personal mission to provide a stable family to children who really need one,” said Burge.
By way of compensation, a treatment foster family can receive a stipend totaling up to $16,000 per child. The children also are provided with their own medical coverage.
Those interested in becoming a treatment foster parent must first meet with a parent recruiter who screens them for eligibility and determines if they might be a good match for a placement child. During the 90-minute interview, the recruiter considers such factors as whether the home has enough space for the child and whether the family has a stable relationship and sufficient income. The potential family is also given an extensive background and reference check.
Cheryl Hopper of Washington has been a foster parent recruiter for about a year. With degrees in psychology and sociology, Hopper has also served on the board of directors of the Three Rivers Adoption Council. Her credentials include seven adopted children of her own.
“PRYDE is a really great program,” she said. “Although it’s been implemented in Allegheny County since 1982, it’s just now getting off the ground in Fayette and surrounding counties. As a result, I believe there are a lot of good families out there who are unaware of the program.”
Hopper said experience has taught her that some parents erroneously believe the program primarily serves infants and small children; however, foster children can be as old as 18, although most are between the ages of 10 and 15. Potential foster parents are also sometimes unaware of the extensive training process that precedes placement.
“We ask interested parents to attend 50 hours of training, scheduled on weekends and evenings over a six-week period,” said Burge. “The training will take place at the Pressley Ridge office in Uniontown or some other convenient spot such as a church or school. Although parents receive no training reimbursement, we do sometimes feed them lunch or dinner.”
Training covers many aspects of good parenting, including discipline, motivation, behavior management, problem solving, good teaching methods and crisis intervention. Treatment foster parents also get to meet with the child that most matches their preference profile. If both parties agree, another visit, most likely in the parents’ home, is arranged followed by an overnight or weekend stay.
“Parents have to decide whether or not the match is good for them,” said Burge. “Once a home study is completed to determine if it meets all health and safety criteria and the license and certification process is complete, placement occurs, and the agency really gets down to work.”
Because many of the children have been abused or suffer from depression, hyperactivity or mental retardation, the treatment family will be able to tap into the expertise of a degreed professional along with a degreed part-time aide who will work with them for up to 20 hours a week. The family will also have access to the services of a host of other professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors).
“New living arrangements are always stressful for children, so they need people who have the skills to help them manage the changes in their lives,” said Burge, who estimates that 85 to 90 percent of all placements are successful, meaning the child eventually returns home to his or her natural parents, is adopted or becomes independent.
“In Fayette County, we have a current need for between 10 and 12 treatment families,” he said. “For some, participating in the program is a spiritual mission. For others, it’s a way of giving back to society or improving their own personal piece of the world.”
For more information on becoming a treatment family or on the PRYDE program, phone 724-225-4400 or visit www.pressleyridge.org.