THE BABY FOLD

The Baby Fold foster care programs provide safe, nurturing home environments for children. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) refers these families to The Baby Fold at a time of crisis, often involving abuse or neglect. The children need a caring, stable place to stay until their family can be reunited or another permanent living arrangement can be made. Services are provided for children from infancy to 21 years old.

Serving children at The Baby Fold's Hammitt Elementary and Hammitt Junior-Senior High Schools. Students from 40 school districts throughout Central Illinois attend The Baby Fold's schools when their severe emotional/behavioral or communicative needs exceed what their public schools can provide. Through expert data-driven instruction, specialized curriculums and individualized plans bring children social and academic success. Our older students also receive vocational education opportunities in the community and/or within their school, building job skills for post-secondary life.

The Baby Fold's Healthy Start program is a voluntary program designed to build safe and loving environments for first-time or young families. A Family Support Worker meets in the home bi-weekly through the remainder of the pregnancy and weekly during the first nine months of the baby’s life. We assist parents in identifying their strengths and needs, establishing family goals, and linking with community resources. The Baby Fold helps families build safe, economically viable home that are free of abuse and neglect. At the end of the Healthy Start program, the family graduates, knowing they have the resources and knowledge to manage the stresses of life.

Parents can participate in home visiting services until their child turns five years old.

Intact Family Services is a short-term in-home community-based intervention program (6-9 months) that works with families who have come to the attention of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and have been indicated by DCFS for child abuse and/or neglect. The program is designed to assure the safety and well-being of children by assisting families in addressing the issues that gave rise to the indicated report with the goal of maintaining the children safely in the home. The program is designed to help families assess their strengths and needs, set goals, identify resources, learn new skills, and change behaviors that put their children at risk.

The Baby Fold works in cooperation with Unit 5 and United Way to run a Community Schools Program at two public schools to bring together all of the stakeholders in a child or young person’s life – school, families, and community. Our embedded social works work identify student needs and the resources necessary to meet these needs so that students succeed at school and beyond.

Our Community Schools model is designed to transform schools by expanding learning time, bringing community-based resources to bear on student and family needs, removing barriers to academic achievement and youth development, and aligning school, community, and family resources behind a shared vision for student success.

Serving 19 counties, The Baby Fold’s Caregiver Connections Program provide consultation and support services to providers in family child care, preschools, and home care settings where more attention needs to be given towards a child’s behavior or social-emotional wellbeing.

The Baby Fold also offers training and professional development opportunities to childcare providers at their request on a variety of topics related to development and mental health in young children. The topics covered include but are not limited to addressing challenging behavior, trauma informed care, culture and diversity, child development, attachment theory, and the importance of healthy relationships.

The Baby Fold offers in-service training for teachers in area school districts, and professional staff who work with children in the community. Hammitt School staff, with extensive expertise, are available to provide workshops in a variety of specialty areas and have have custom-designed training programs depending on the need.

Hammitt School staff offer child-specific consultation to school districts that request assistance in designing effective interventions for particular children and their families.

As a well-respected leader in the area of attachment and trauma training, The Baby Fold offers an Attachment and Trauma Fellowship and Certification Program with the goal of helping individuals and providers offer the highest possible level of care to children and families. This three-year fellowship program allows therapists to achieve Certification in Attachment and Trauma Therapy through a structured educational experience with the support of a team of seasoned experts.

At the Elementary level, we enable students to increase their language and communication skills which improve their acquisition of skills in all areas – social, emotional, behavioral, and academic.

At the Junior-Senior High School, the students’ language and communication skills remain a focus. The Program strives to enhance a positive behavior change and independent functioning of students by utilizing community-based learning environments for the acquisition of functional daily living and vocational skills. The staff works closely with parents to facilitate a successful transition to adulthood.