Malheur Treatment Home

By Lifelines — Sandra Raven
Special to the Argus Observer
Sunday, November 4, 2007 2:04 AM PST

Eight years ago my husband and I became foster parents for the first time. When I first began making calls to find out how to become foster parents, we had envisioned a bright-eyed young child that would play alongside our own. I was confident in my ability to handle anything a 4-year-old could dish out. But we found ourselves with an 18-year-old boy who had an indifferent shrug, weary eyes and 400 hours of community service to get done in three months. It was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of our lives. We were hooked.

Eighteen months ago we moved to Malheur County and contacted the Department of Human Services to find out about programs for at-risk youth.

To our dismay, there weren’t many. We found that many of the local children, those with the types of issues we liked to work with, had to be sent out of the area to receive the help and treatment they needed. When children are sent away to receive services, it is often difficult to track and follow their progress. These children lose track of their families and their community. If families aren’t involved in the decision-making process, nothing changes at home, and children return to their old ways pretty quickly. Our community loses potential each time a child leaves.

We decided to work with DHS and Lifeways to open the Malheur Treatment Home, which opened in April of this year.

The difference between a regular foster home and a treatment home is the level of attention, which is intense, and the close work we do with the child’s mental health counselor. Each child has a treatment plan, as well as a whole team of people promoting his success.

ADVERTISEMENT

Children in our home are immediately immersed in a family environment. This is a home and family setting, where we work on specifically targeted behaviors and areas of concern. We try to teach youth to look at themselves as an evolving person who can learn from past mistakes, move forward to reach their dreams and ambitions and be successful contributors to our community.

We have found that love, structure and accountability, each in large and consistent quantities, are the key ingredients of a successful family life.

Malheur Treatment Home is an important resource for our area. Children are given the opportunity to grow, mature and make positive life decisions, while preserving their relationships with their families.                       

Sandra Raven owns and operates the Malheur Treatment Home.