Leake and Watts has always been dedicated to providing high quality residential care for children in need.  Our 30-acre campus in Yonkers was still a farm when we first moved here in 1890.  Today, the rolling lawns and gardens overlooking the Hudson are an island of tranquility and treatment within an often-troubled, urban environment.

Our Residential Treatment Center (RTC) serves 188 youngsters who have been seriously scarred by abuse and neglect.  Our campus, situated right on the Bronx border, makes Leake and Watts the most centrally located RTC serving children from New York City.

Leake and Watts has been a consistent innovator in the development of effective residential treatment:

• In 1921, we were among the first agencies in the nation to implement a "cottage system", abandoning the traditional large scale orphanage building and moving to smaller, separate housing units for groups of 10-30 children.

• We completely rebuilt the Yonkers campus in 1992, doubling our capacity and creating newly-designed cottages, clustered in therapeutic villages, to meet the programming and treatment needs of our young residents.

• Leake and Watts reserves half of its RTC capacity for females, having added placements at a time when many agencies were closing facilities for these under served children.

• In July 2006, we were approved by the New York State Education Department to open a program designed to educate students from New York State who require special academic programming not widely available within the State.

Leake and Watts' continuum of care also includes six community-based homes located throughout the Bronx with a total capacity of 63.  This program serves boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 21 who require out-of-home placement.  We accept youngsters directly from the community or from other foster care placements when a community-based program is considered to be the best placement option.  The goal of the program is to provide a safe and nurturing environment to all youth as they either plan for family reunification or for discharge to independence with significant adult connections.  Services are provided by an interdisciplinary team and include mental health and medical care, spiritual counseling, life skills, vocational and educational training, job readiness and employment assistance, housing assistance, and linkages to community partners.

This is transitional living for adolescents 17 to 21 who are preparing for discharge from foster and/or congregate care programs to their own responsibilities.  We operate 11 apartments serving a total of 22 residents.  Residents are afforded the opportunity to experience apartment life with minimal supervision, while continuing to receive the support of the program's multi-disciplinary team.

This program is designed to serve parenting teens who require out-of-home placements with their babies.  The goal of the program is to provide a safe and caring environment to promote the healthy development of both the teen mothers as well as the children while they prepare for life after discharge.  We operate two residences serving a total of 21 mother/child dyads.  Services provided include parenting skills training, family counseling, anger management, vocational and educational support, spiritual guidance, on-site day care services, and discharge planning.

At the Woodfield Cottage facility, we provide a social service model of care for youth under the age of 16 who are awaiting court action.  They're accused of committing crimes, some of which are violent in nature.  Our services include individual and group counseling, a full-day school program, 24-hour medical services, family outreach, aftercare planning, religious and spiritual services.  These services are offered in a structured setting and a caring, albeit high-security environment.

The Spiritual Services Department is an innovative program that seeks to be didactic in nature and tactile in service.  It is one that accepts without preconceptions, our children and seeks to address the element of hurt that has been inflicted upon their spirits through the process of acceptance, reframing, self-esteem and challenging their presence with the Divine-Appointed prospects for the future.

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