Leake and Watts cares for approximately 500 children through our foster boarding home program in the Bronx.  Originally opened in 1944, our program places children with loving foster families living in their own communities.  Our neighborhood-based approach to service delivery works with the entire family to address the underlying problems which originally required a child's removal and foster care placement.  Through our intensive program of family counseling, supervised home visits, parenting skills training and other supportive services, we strive to safely reunite children with their families as quickly as possible.

The mission of the Foster Boarding Home program is to provide safe, caring, temporary residence for each child we receive, and to do so as quickly as we can.  Within 4 hours, a social worker is assigned to the child and family.

Our Foster Boarding Home program consistently receives a top rating of "Excellent" by New York City's Administration for Children's Services.  Regular foster care provides temporary homes for children who cannot live with their parents or relatives due to abuse, neglect and/or emotional/behavioral problems.  Caseworkers provide monthly home visits and case management, which includes permanency planning for the children in care and accessing rehabilitative services for the children's families.  The children receive routine developmental screenings (for ages 0-5 years) at our Bronx office, medical and dental care through Children's Aid Society at a centrally located Bronx facility.  Children with mental health concerns receive therapy through Leake and Watts clinical services at our Bronx office.

In 1985, when AIDS was poorly understood, and was creating an epidemic of fear throughout the country, Leake and Watts became nationally known for our response to the situation.  At that time, New York City faced a crisis.  Hundreds of parents with AIDS were abandoning their HIV-positive newborns at City hospitals.  We pioneered a Specialized Foster Care Program, the first of its kind in the country, and showed that families would open their homes and hearts to these "boarder babies".  With proper support and training, families provided these fragile infants with special care in a loving environment.  This program became a model for similar programs throughout the nation.

Early permanency planning occurs when biological parents who are terminally ill participate in establishing an adoptive home for their children.  Through early permanency planning, we work with birth parents to find appropriate adoptive homes, and enable biological parents to maintain contact with their children as long as heir health allows.

In 1994, we planted a "Peace Pole" at the Leake and Watts campus to memorialize the children in Specialized Foster Care who have died of AIDS.  Over the years, however, medical responses to HIV have changed.  Today, all of our HIV-positive children receive early treatment.  As a result, many are no longer HIV-positive by the time they reach a year and a half old.  We expect them to live long and healthy lives.

In 2001, a team of Leake and Watts experts, conducted a fact-finding mission in Africa to assist Namibia's First Lady in developing her Child Survival Protection and Development Foundation for children affected with AIDS.

Specialized foster care provides temporary homes for children with HIV-positive and/or have AIDS, as well as those who are medically fragile (e.g. spinal bifida, down syndrome, heart and liver disorders).  These children are provided additional medical case management and support services (such as visiting nurse services), and the foster parents receive training on specific illness/disorders.

• Expedite permanency for children in foster care providing additional assistance to parents who are actively planning for reunification and who have unaddressed services needs.
• Enhance the capacity of parents who have achieved reunification to provide safe, stable and nurturing homes, thereby ensuring safe discharges and preventing re-entries into care.

Services supplement those normally provided by casework staff.  Family Support Workers or After Service Coordinators are assigned to families to expedite referrals and assist in the follow-through of those referrals.  Staff members also provide immediate assistance with housing and public assistance issues.

Home finding develops and maintains all homes in the FBH department.  Foster parents are trained using the pre-certification Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting - MAPP II curriculum as well as specialized trainings specific to each child's needs.  In 2006, FBH had a total of 403 active homes.  African American and Latino homes make up the majority of all facilities

Kinship Foster Care provides the same services as Regular and, in some cases, Specialized Foster Care with the exception that these children are placed with relatives and or individuals that they are familiar with; such as a  godparent or neighbor.  Kinship foster care is widely valued for keeping a child connected to his or her family and thereby reducing the trauma of sudden placement with non-relatives.

Leake and Watts has a long tradition of helping children who can not be reunited with their own parents to find new families through adoption.  Or agency was an early leader in recruiting foster parents who were also interested in the possibility of adopting children placed in their care.

Adoption provides services which children in foster boarding homes are unable to be reunited with their birth parents or an alternative resource.  Each child's permanency goal is changed to adoption and the process of adoption begins.  The process culminates in an adoption finalization hearing.

Therapeutic foster care is a family-focused, community-based alternative to residential and institutional care.  The children temporarily placed in these homes have serious emotional and/or behavioral conditions; most of them are on psychotropic medications.  Foster parents are given comprehensive training on behavior modification techniques as well as access to a 24-hour support team to assist with crisis intervention.  As per our contract with ACS, this program serves children 12 years and older, adolescent mothers with their babies, and children deemed "Persons In Need of Supervision" (PINS).

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