Lifeline recruits, orients, trains and supports foster families who develop their capacities to provide a nurturing and structured environment for children and youth, pending their return home, adoption or transition into independent living.
Lifeline recruits, orients, trains and supports foster families who develop their capacities to provide a nurturing and structured environment for children and youth, pending their return home, adoption or transition into independent living.
August 2003, as a non-profit social services agency with the intended purpose of verifying foster homes to care for abused and neglected children 0 – 17 years of age.
August 2006, Lifeline was approved to provide pre and post adoption services in the state of Texas.
Houston, San Antonio, and Corsicana.
In 2012 Lifeline expanded its services offering mental health/counseling services; psychoeducational groups Texas Department of Criminal Justice; community educational and mentoring initiatives and partnerships
Lifeline Children & Family Services originally opened for operations in 2003 as a licensed foster care agency under its parent organization Lifeline Fellowship Family Church, Inc. With one office located in Corsicana Texas, Lifeline earned a stellar reputation of being an agency that frequently exceeded state standards in its efforts to provide protective, safe and nurturing homes for abused and neglected children.
In 2005, Lifeline Children & Family Services was incorporated as a separate entity from its parent organization. As a social service non-profit organization, Lifeline continued its mission to recruit, train, license and support foster and adoptive families. The organization received its 501(c)(3) status in 2007 to further its work to include a myriad of other services to address and improve the outcomes for children and youth, birth through age 21, and their families. The organization expanded its reach into other Texas regions with branch offices located in Dallas, Arlington, Houston, Gun Barrel City, Beaumont and San Antonio.
In 2009, Lifeline furthered its endeavors to assist socio-economic disadvantaged students by establishing a charter school campus at its Corsicana location. The campus served high school youth who faced unique challenges that impaired their abilities to achieve academic success by traditional means. In partnership with ComQuest Academy High School of Tomball Texas, Lifeline opened a satellite campus to serve high school students 9th through 12th grades. The campus was able to serve 50 plus students per day for five school calendar years offering a unique career tech education. Students were able to earn high school credits through a structured academic/career program.
Lifeline continues its work with offices in Corsicana, Houston, and San Antonio, contracting with The Department of Protective and Family Services and other agencies with Single Service Continuum Contracts to provide basic and therapeutic foster care to children ages 0-17 years of age. In addition, Lifeline also serves youth who age out of care who desire to remain with the families who have provided and served as their surrogates to assist in with transition. While fostering children and youth has been a major focus of its operations, adoption is a key component in a parallel focus of Lifeline. Lifeline assists kinship families with adopting relative children who would otherwise be separated indefinitely from their family of origin losing much of their important history, culture, customs, rituals, and familial connections.
Through its mission, Lifeline has served over 20,000 children and youth through foster care and facilitated 100s of adoptions since being established in 2005.
Lifeline Children & Family Services offer other services to strengthen the resilience of families through counseling and behavioral health services for children, youth and families through individual, group and family therapy.
Dr. Ricky Walter, Executive Director and Founder of Lifeline Children & Family Services, partners with other licensed professional counselors and licensed chemical dependency counselors to provide therapy services through in-person and virtual/telehealth options concentrating its efforts in rural communities that lack the resources to address the disparities in mental health.
Lifeline Children & Family Services collaborates with other community organizations to offer anger management, domestic violence treatment and enrichment groups for men incarcerated in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (Coffield Unit).
Dr. Walter envisions building partnerships with other organizations in rural communities to fill in the resource gaps by providing needed services to help families become resilient and self-sufficient.
We believe that the best outcome for any family is to remain as a healthy single unit. Utilizing Family Group Decision Making, we earnestly strive for this outcome first before attempting other options.
When reunification is not possible, preparing the youth for a new permanent family becomes our goal. This provides a long-term, stable and nurturing environment for the child, allowing him or her to fulfill his utmost potential.
For the children who are not adopted before age 18, our charge is to prepare them for life as an adult. We identify and provide support and training for mentors who make a firm commitment to helping youth make a transition into independence.
The vision of Lifeline Children and Family Services is to extend its reach through initiatives, programs, and services that positively improve the well-being and stability of the family.
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