What We Do
We focus on a youth-guided, family-driven approach to care where clinicians focus on:
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building coping skills,
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fostering social and emotional resilience
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emphasizing the importance of attachment
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strengthening forever-family relationships
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dealing with the impact of separation, grief and loss
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acknowledging a child’s need for permanency.
Families, including incarcerated parents and placement caregivers, are included as extensively as possible. Aftercare services are provided by our clinical team for up to six months to assist in the reestablishment of family equilibrium.
For the period of time a young boy calls Christ Child House his home, his path to hope and healing is paved by a multidisciplinary approach to his care. This path includes:
Psychiatric and Therapeutic Services
QRTP certified
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Residential Care
Christ Child House offers two contracted residential programs:
General Residential services
Mental Health Behavioral Stabilization (MHBS)
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The MHBS program provides the more intensive services our changing patient population was requiring. To accommodate for the increased level of treatment, our staff to children case ratio has been reduced 1:4 during the day and 1:10 at night. MHBS provides for the application of a comprehensive array of services that include psychiatric and clinical assessments and corresponding interventions designed to stabilize and treat the conditions of mental health and behavioral instability. Level of service intensity is tailored to the needs of the youth, his diagnosis at the time of intake and ongoing progress in the program.
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A primary focus of residential intervention is to engage and support family members, caregivers and identified permanent connections with learning skills and connect them with appropriate resources to ensure the child can live in the community successfully. For those children with no permanent family connections, the primary and urgent focus will be on permanency with a “forever family.”
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Christ Child House has implemented a trauma-informed modality of care to assist with recognition and treatment of youth in foster care that have experienced complex trauma. This trauma can significantly harm individual and familial development.
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The specialized residential treatment component on campus continues to be refined and developed in order to meet the ever-changing challenges of the severely at-risk children in our care.
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For boys aged 5 to 12, we have a developmental and nurturing modality where the focus is on children achieving developmental milestones, resolving separation anxiety and trust issues and improving social skills.
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For boys aged 12 to 16, we have a unique learning program, in which we focus on the continuing development of age appropriate social and life skills. The House staff utilizes a special blend of treatment, nurturing, recreation, education and advocacy to serve our emotionally impaired youth.
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Children stay in our care for an average of twelve months, depending upon their individual treatment needs. Currently approximately 50% of the boys in our residence are temporary wards of the state. The other 50% we are working to rehabilitate and prepare for placement with a “forever family” once an adoptive placement has been identified.
We are QRTP certified providing the following QRTP services:
• Nursing/clinical staff information unique to CCH:
Christ Child House has onsite nursing staff and utilizes local healthcare facilities in the event that the nurse is off duty.
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Psychiatric and Therapeutic Services
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Christ Child House provides the on-site services of a medical liaison and a child and adolescent psychiatrist. Our psychiatrist meets individually with each boy and assesses the need for medication and/or additional therapeutic services. The medical liaison oversees the medication distribution program and assists in weekly medication reviews. Both the psychiatrist and the medical liaison are available 24 hours a day for consultation needs.
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The boys at Christ Child House all receive intensive individual therapeutic services that focus on topics such as Trauma, Anger Management, Conflict Resolution, Selfregulation, Grief and Loss, Life Skills, and Sexual Development.
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Our Clinical Therapists, all of whom possess a Master’s degree, conduct individual and weekly group therapy sessions using a variety of behavior modification methods and strategies, including play therapy, music therapy, art therapy and adventure therapy.
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Our Youth Specialist staff members conduct skill-building groups based on the needs of our youth. They may be focused on current events, independent living skills or basic life skills.
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We provide independent living activities for all children aged 14 and older that include, but are not limited to: budgeting and money management, employment seeking skills, communication skills, relationship building, establishing health and hygiene, household maintenance and upkeep, educational assistance, preventive health services, parenting skills and accessing community services.
Educational Support
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Education is viewed as the critical secondary complement necessary to prepare the boys of Christ Child House for successful adulthood.
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The House Educational Director ensures that every child’s educational needs are met. An educational plan for each child is carefully constructed to ensure appropriate school placements. The spectrum of services required ranges from regular education to intensive special education day treatment. The educational
challenges include emotional impairment, cognitive impairment, autism, learning disabilities and developmental delays.
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Appropriate placement is made to Detroit public schools and private schools on scholarship basis. In Fall 2019, four boys will be attending Westside Christian Academy and two young men of Christ Child House will attend Brother Rice High School on scholarships provided through the Christ Child Society’s Education Fund and Brother Rice High School.
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Educational support programs offered in the House include both Art Therapy and Music Therapy. Education is a year-round focus, and a comprehensive education/remediation program is provided on campus every summer.
Recreational Programming
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Christ Child House takes pride in offering extensive recreational opportunities that range from on-site activities such as softball, biking, basketball, baseball, volleyball, and kickball.
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The boys enjoy an in-depth horticulture experience facilitated by a Master Gardener who, accompanied by her therapy dog, engages the boys in gardening and plant-based activities. The visual aesthetics of plants are known to bring about positive emotions and feelings of inner peace. As a group, they plant and maintain multiple gardens; a rose garden, a butterfly garden and vegetable garden where something is blooming throughout the entire Michigan growing season. The boys are active participants in the care and management of this living example of growth and rebirth.
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We recognize the fact that Michigan winters limit the boys’ ability to participate in these physical activities throughout the year, so we attempt to supplement their recreation with organized off-site activities through our Cultural & Educational Enrichment outings program.
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We are members of Greenfield Village, the Detroit Zoo and the Charles H. Wright African American Museum. Additionally, thanks to many supporters and donors, our boys have had the opportunity to attend Detroit Lions, Pistons and Tigers games.
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Every summer for over 20 years, our boys have enjoyed a fun-filled summer camp experience. The annual camping trip consists of four days and three nights at a campsite located outside of metro-Detroit.
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The boys are given the opportunity to swim and fish, to learn new skills like bike riding, team building and cooking by the fireside. Along with our hardworking (and by then, exhausted) staff, the boys enjoy a BBQ dinner like one big family. Each year, the farewell circle is filled with gratitude and the wish to stay one day longer. These experiences create a sense of community and help build resiliency and self-confidence.
Are you interested in contributing to any of these programs?
Here are some ways you can donate: