KALEIDOSCOPE INC
Serving Chicago families since 1973
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Kaleidoscope serves youth and families who have been impacted by child abuse and neglect. All of our youth have experienced trauma, often related to domestic violence, exposure to substance abuse, untreated mental illness, and lack of resources due to poverty. We know that trauma has a direct impact on children’s brain development and ability to live in the world, and we strive to create a stable support system to help them overcome these obstacles.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Programs Overview
We provide assessment, case management, counseling, specialized foster care, independent living preparation and other services for children and youth involved with DCFS. We believe that our kids need adults’ support, patience and guidance to keep them safe and help them lead happy, successful lives.
At Kaleidoscope, we serve youth from birth to age 21 with complex, unique needs. Children are referred to us through DCFS after experiencing emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and/or neglect. As a result of these traumas, our young people have specialized mental health, behavioral, medical and/or pregnancy and parenting needs. Each of our programs is catered to best serve these children and youth, ensuring they are safe, supported and have the opportunities they deserve to heal and succeed.
Foster Care & Adoption Program
Our primary goal is to keep children safe. When a child is unsafe in their caregivers’ home, we facilitate placement in foster care until we can resolve the issue that led to the child’s removal from the home. If a child cannot be safely reunited with their biological family, we find adoptive families that provide loving homes. Because the children we serve have complex needs, we recruit dedicated foster parents and train them to provide specialized care.
Intact Family Services
For some families who are indicated for abuse or neglect, keeping the child at home is in their best interest. Our family preservation team ensures children’s immediate and ongoing safety while collaborating with caregivers and DCFS to resolve issues at home and prevent future harm.
By keeping children safe within their own homes, we reduce trauma to children and caregivers and help build a foundation for a stronger family. Our short-term, intensive services connect families to supports and resources within their communities so that they can provide the stable, loving care that children need without further DCFS intervention.
Independent Living Program
We believe that every young person deserves the chance to succeed. Through our Independent Living program, we support youth ages 19 to 21 as they prepare to transition out of the foster care system, helping them develop the life skills they need.
Young people who apply for this program are matched with a dedicated Independent Living specialist who guides them through finding an apartment, planning for college and/or employment, setting budgets, saving for their future and maintaining a home. Kaleidoscope staff meet with youth in this program regularly to check-in on their progress and reassess their goals for the future. Together, we support and guide these young people as they define and achieve their own successes.
Intensive Placement Stabilization Program
Children need stable and safe homes. Through our Intensive Placement Stabilization (IPS) Program, we provide in-depth, comprehensive services to children and families to address behavioral, emotional or physical needs that threaten to disrupt a child’s placement in a foster home. We also offer an Enhanced IPS Pilot Program to support young people after a psychiatric hospitalization.
IPS specialists work with families to build on their strengths and the strengths in their communities. Together, they develop customized plans that meet their short-term, individualized needs in all areas of family life. These chosen interventions address the behavioral, emotional, and physical needs of the child, as well as other issues affecting the family.
Find Your Future
Through our Find Your Future program, we match young people with employers in our community who give them a chance to build their resume, develop job readiness skills and grow their professional networks.
Our Find Your Future Program provides 10-week paid summer internships and vocational training for current and former foster youth who are attending college. When Kaleidoscopes’ clients enroll in this program, we pair them with employers throughout Chicago and Illinois who are committed to offering valuable work experiences for foster youth. They are also invited to participate in resume workshops, mock interviews, team-building activities, community volunteering and a professional etiquette dinner. With these career opportunities, youth gain valuable experience, build their resumes and make professional connections within their chosen field.
Clinical Services (Therapy)
Children and youth served at Kaleidoscope have experienced traumas, including abuse, neglect, separation from their families, domestic violence, poverty, substance abuse and more. Trauma has serious impacts on the development of healthy neural pathways in the brain and can have significant, life-long negative impacts on children’s emotional and behavioral health.
Kaleidoscope’s therapists specialize in helping children, youth and caregivers heal from these traumas. We take a relationship-based approach, which helps families build trust and support each other in healing. Therapists offer a safe, supportive, structured and supervised environment for kids and families to work through painful emotions, challenge unhelpful thoughts and behaviors and practice new skills. Together, we identify strengths and needs, then create individualized care plans to decrease clients’ symptoms of mental illness and traumatic stress and improve their daily functioning within their families and communities.
Arts Camps & Enrichment Activities
Fully funded by generous donors on Giving Tuesday, our arts camps and enrichment activities activities equip the children and youth we serve learn new ways to express themselves, have fun and heal from trauma, all while building relationships with compassionate, caring adults.
Where we work
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Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Kaleidoscope's goal is to keep children safe within a home environment through innovative service delivery. By keeping children in a safe, caring home, they stay close to their support networks, are better able to heal and are more likely to achieve their personal goals for the future.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
At Kaleidoscope, staff believe in the power of relationships to heal. Each of the agency’s services relies on these relationships – biological, foster, and adoptive – to keep young people safe, help them heal, and set them up for a successful, happy adulthood. Through Kaleidoscope’s unique programs, staff are focused on equipping adults to help young people overcome the traumas they have experienced in the past and provide them with the resources needed to move forward into a brighter future.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Kaleidoscope is proud to offer a variety of trauma-informed programming that focuses on serving the needs of the “whole” child and those they interact with on a daily basis. The agency’s services include in-home intervention to help keep families intact, specialized foster care, case management, independent living services for youth ages 19 to 21, vocational and clinical services, and therapeutic arts camps.
Beyond working with individual families, Kaleidoscope participates in larger efforts to ensure the child welfare system best meets the needs of our young people. Staff receive rigorous training on best practices of care, interventions, and techniques. Kaleidoscope works closely with DCFS as they continually enhance their efforts.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Kaleidoscope has delivered high-quality, innovative services for 45 years, and is consistently viewed as a leader in our field. In the past three years, we have increased our grant writing efforts and fundraising events, invested in board development, launched an Associate Board, and increased partnerships with corporate and private foundations in order to triple our fundraising dollars. Kaleidoscope is also in the process of accreditation by the Council on Accreditation.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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KALEIDOSCOPE INC
Board of directorsas of 10/24/2023
Cathy Madden
Retired
Jon Westberg
PNC Bank
Cathy Madden
Transunion
Dianne Amos
RELO Direct, Inc.
Jim Burton
Retired
Lisa Cartwright
Retired
Todd Cello
Transunion
Jon Westberg
PNC Bank
Camille Grayson-Walker
Zekelman Industries
Carla Robinson
Canary Health, Inc.
Julienne Smith
Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Cyrus Walker, III
Data Defenders, LLC
Julie O'Malley
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
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