Casa de Esperanza de los Ninos, Inc.

Casa de Esperanza’s services are focused on providing safety, strengthening relationships, and establishing permanence for the children and their families, with the goal of breaking family cycles of abuse and neglect.

Goal: To provide safety for children and parents receiving services
Objective: Children admitted to Casa de Esperanza will be placed in a safe home and will receive the medical, dental and behavioral health services they need.
Objective: Parents will address the contributing factor(s) that led to their child’s placement in the Residential Program and participate in the development and work toward completion of a Plan of Service.

Goal: Through consistency, patience and flexibility, Casa de Esperanza will strive to model and form protective relationships and establish a sense of belonging in every parent and child that allow them to recognize, achieve and maintain safety.
Objective: Upon discharge, parents will report feeling increased levels of security, safety, and ability to effectively parent their child(ren).

Goal: Through relationship, Casa de Esperanza will facilitate and establish permanence for each child.
Objective: Children discharged from Casa de Esperanza’s Residential program will be placed in a permanent home.

In order to accomplish these goals, children receive comprehensive medical, developmental, psychological and educational assessment and intervention services while in residential care and parents receive case management and referral services while their children are safely cared for. Family reunification is accomplished when the parent makes sufficient progress on their plan of service and can provide a stable home for their family. When family reunification is not possible, Casa de Esperanza is licensed to supervise long-term foster care and adoptive placements.

After family reunification, Casa's Aftercare Program continues to provide assistance to maintain a stable home and progress made during the placement.

The Post-Adoption program provides assistance for adoptees and their families to support the placement and address difficulties that may arise.

All services are provided at no cost to the families or placement agencies.

CORE VALUES:
BELONGING: Few things are more damaging to a child than not being wanted. It is important for children to know they belong.
SAFETY: We establish and sustain safety through a positive environment, which is vital to a child's mental, physical, and emotional health, development and education.
RELATIONSHIPS: By forming strong relationships, generational change and healing are possible.
PERMANENCE: Children who have been abused, neglected, traumatized, homeless, hungry or affected by HIV reach their fullest potential when they are part of a stable and supportive family.
COMMUNITY: Casa de Esperanza's greatest resources are our relationships with volunteers, donors, volunteer foster families, adoptive families, Hands of Hope interns, and staff who open their hearts and change their lives to support the children and families we serve.
EDUCATION: We are committed to inspire and teach our community and future generations the value of protecting the most vulnerable.
SUPPORT: Services are provided at no cost to our families, through the generosity of our supporters, and without government funding.

Casa de Esperanza's trauma-informed, holistic approach addresses the full spectrum of needs of each child, beginning with providing immediate safety and care for children in crisis. A loving home, regular healthy meals and snacks, a bed of their own, and age-appropriate play activities, all combine to give the child a sense of belonging, the stability and loving care needed to overcome early deprivation.

Admission also begins the process of stabilizing the child and obtaining needed assessments, including medical and developmental evaluations. All recommended follow-up care and treatment is obtained. Children are taught age-appropriate developmental and school-readiness skills. From the intake home, children may be discharged to their family, remain in an agency home or be moved to a community foster home for extended care until permanence can be achieved. While their children are safely cared for, caseworkers facilitate services for the parents needed to establish a safe, stable home.

Children's lives change the minute they walk through the doors of one of our homes. There is immense relief when a hungry child realizes that food is always available, when a sick child receives needed medical care, and when a homeless child continues to return to the same house. They learn what it means to be loved. They learn they don't have to worry where they will stay or if or when the next meal will come. Their reduced anxiety allows them to focus on the developmental tasks of childhood. Because they have adequate nutrition, they will not experience the long-term neurological damage that can cause developmental delays throughout life. Hunger, hurt and fear are replaced by relief, security, and a reminder that there is good in the world, people who care, and a reason to hope. Parents learn to trust and also find reason to hope.

Casa de Esperanza has been providing services for at-risk children for more than 37 years. It's staff have a wealth of knowledge, born of experience, about the effects of abuse, neglect, drug exposure, and pediatric HIV/AIDS. In 1986, Casa de Esperanza expanded its mission to include HIV-positive children - one of the first agencies in the country to provide care outside of a hospital - and continues to be the only agency in the area providing specialized residential care for children exposed to HIV. Other programs were developed when resources could not be found for the children in the community.

The Residential Program includes a neighborhood of 10 children's homes in Houston and numerous community foster homes in surrounding counties. Our staff is dedicated to the work of Casa: 36% of professional staff has been at Casa de Esperanza more than 10 years and 25% more than 20 years. Casa de Esperanza has tremendous community support, with approximately 1,000 volunteers annually and meets its expenses through the support of the community. Casa de Esperanza receives no government or United Way funding and 81% of operating funds are used for program expenses.

The Residential Program is the entry point and core of Casa de Esperanza's continuum of care. Whenever possible, Casa de Esperanza uses and works collaboratively with other programs in the community. Casa's other programs were developed when needed services could not be found. Other programs include: Parent Support Services, Aftercare and Outreach, Adoption and Post-Adoption Services and Hands of Hope Service Year Program.

Because Casa de Esperanza addresses family crises daily, it is uniquely positioned to step up to assist families through more widespread disasters. After helping families through Hurricanes Katrina, Ike and Harvey, Casa has now stepped up to address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on families. Many families have said that it is only Casa who is helping to put food on their table after loss of employment.

Casa does not duplicate available services, but collaborates and coordinates services with agencies throughout the greater Houston area to assist individuals and families in crisis.

• Casa de Esperanza has provided quality residential, medical, and psychological care for more than 6,000 infants and young children in crisis due to abuse, neglect or the effects of the AIDS virus without charge for over 37 years.
• Casa de Esperanza began with $500 and one rented house in 1982, and has grown to include a neighborhood of ten children's homes, many community foster homes, and 8 support programs serving the greater Houston area
• Casa de Esperanza was one of the first organizations nationwide to provide residential care outside of a hospital for children infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS, has been serving HIV-positive children longer than any other agency in the country, and is the only organization in the Houston area specializing in the residential care of infant and young children with HIV/AIDS.
• According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the public high school graduation rate for the State of Texas is 89% (2016) and as reported by the National Foster Youth Institute, only about 50% of foster care youth graduate from high school. Of Casa de Esperanza’s adoptees (eligible by age), 96% have graduated from high school.
• Casa de Esperanza has facilitated more than 391 special needs adoptions, including 28 HIV-positive and 97 HIV-exposed children.
• Casa de Esperanza has a combined adoption disruption and dissolution rate less than 1%.
• Casa de Esperanza has a dedicated staff: 37% of professional staff has been at Casa de Esperanza more than 10 years and 25% more than 20 years.
• Casa de Esperanza has significant community support with approximately 1,000 volunteers annually donating their time and expertise.
• Casa de Esperanza meets or exceeds 99.9% of the 4540 licensing standards evaluated by TDFPS.
• Casa de Esperanza's Hands of Hope Service Year Program has provided more than 500 college graduates with comprehensive training in the needs of at-risk children and hands-on experience in caring for young children who have been traumatized by their life experiences. These interns have enhanced their professional practices with an increased awareness of the needs of at-risk children and their families.
• Casa de Esperanza is a Better Business Bureau accredited charity, a DonorHouston Non-profit Partner, and has been awarded 3 stars by Charity Navigator