DePelchin Children’s Center has opened a new center in Texas City to provide guidance and assistance to families in the Galveston County area.

The DePelchin Family Resource Center is now open at 2925 Palmer Highway, Suite B. Families with children from birth to 5 years old can come to learn about services DePelchin provides, such as parenting classes and one-on-one guidance for fathers. DePelchin staff can also connect parents with other resources in the community, from child care to employment resources. The center also includes space where parents can read to their children.

“Our goal is to provide a support hub for parents and caregivers,” said Megan Green, DePelchin’s Director of Family Services. “This is a place where members of our community can come for guidance and support on the types of issues that all families face.”

Walk-ins are welcome, or parents can make appointments to visit with DePelchin staff by calling (713) 558-3720. The center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

DePelchin is a Houston-based organization that has served children and families for more than 130 years with services including foster care, adoption, parenting classes and counseling. DePelchin also has Family Resource Centers in Houston and San Antonio.

Photo Caption: Family Resource Specialists Fernanda Galvan and Elizabeth Baltazar provide support to parents and caregivers at the DePelchin Family Resource Center in Texas City.

Many of DePelchin’s core services and programs focus on meeting mental health needs, and we are celebrating those services throughout October, which is Emotional Wellness Month.

While DePelchin counseling services are widely available to children and families, children placed in foster care through DePelchin are available for a separate set of services called Integrated Mental Health (IMH). Through this program, DePelchin staff conduct a comprehensive assessments with any newly placed child who is 3 or older. The assessment helps DePelchin staff determine what types of services, if any, the child needs.

“Not all youth placed require immediate therapeutic support,” said Hatti Guske, LMFT-S, DePelchin’s Program Manager for Clinical Services. “However, when the clinical needs of a child are beyond what any family can provide, IMH is ready to respond with support.”

For example, DePelchin therapists may begin therapy with the child. The therapists also help the family connect with other resources in the community to ensure that the child’s full needs are met.

The program is covered by Medicaid, so there is no additional cost for the foster families. IMH services are available in all of the regions DePelchin serves: Houston, Austin, Lubbock, and San Antonio.

Sometimes, children do not show a need for mental health services during their initial assessment, but the need may arise later.

“It’s common for a child to experience a honeymoon phase, and then, once they are comfortable, begin to present emotional and/or behavioral challenges,” Guske said. “IMH is prepared to help foster youth and families at any point in their journey.  However, there are a good number of children who don’t require therapeutic services. Having a safe, structured and loving home is therapeutic in nature.”

The generosity of our supporters allows DePelchin to provide these vital services for children in foster care. During Emotional Wellness Month and throughout the year, we are grateful for supporters who help DePelchin meet the mental health needs of children and families.

Cindy answered an unexpected call one day from a friend in need of help. The friend’s sister had a 3-month-old son whom she was unable to care for, so she asked Cindy to care for the baby. Cindy and her husband, who already had a blended family of 3 children, made the quick decision to welcome the baby into their lives

Within a couple of days, Cindy and her husband not only had a baby in their home, but the state was also helping with some of the basic needs of new (and unexpected) parents, such as formula, a car seat, and a bed.

“It was an easy transition — as easy as it can be to go from having no baby to having a baby the next day,” Cindy said.

Cindy is one of thousands of adults in Texas providing kinship care, in which a relative or a family friend like Cindy provides care for a child when parents are unable to do so. Kinship care helps keep children connected to their extended families and their communities. During September, which is National Kinship Care Month, DePelchin celebrates kinship caregivers and the safe, loving homes they provide for children who need temporary care.

DePelchin serves kinship caregivers in multiple ways, such as helping kinship caregivers become licensed foster parents. For example, DePelchin staff may show the family how to demonstrate financial stability, or the staff may help the family pass a state-required inspection. DePelchin also provides kinship families with supplies, resources, and guidance they need after children enter their care suddenly.

Cindy connected with the DePelchin team after workers with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services gave her a list of organizations she could contact for assistance, and she has leaned on DePelchin for guidance since the baby arrived in her home.

Cindy’s own family and friends have rallied around her kinship journey; her adult children and her friends love to visit the baby. She also stays close to the baby’s extended family, including his mother.

To learn more about kinship care, please visit this page on the DePelchin website. Also, we are thankful for DePelchin’s donors who make it possible for us to work with so many families who provide kinship care. Please click here to donate and support the services DePelchin provides to children and families.

As foster youth age, their likelihood of being adopted decreases. Annually, several hundred of Greater Houston’s foster youth “age out” and must fend for themselves. DePelchin has launched two residential programs to help older foster youth and pregnant and parenting teens prepare for adulthood. Based on our successful transitional program for former foster youth (18-22), the new programs will help youth complete their educations, gain work experience, and prepare for independence.

On December 1, 2023, CenterPoint Energy Foundation provided a grant of $30,000 to support the following 3 DePelchin programs:

1. Supervised Independent Living (SIL) (serves former foster youth ages 18-22).
2. Transitional Living for Foster Youth (serves youth ages 14-18)
3. Residential Services for Pregnant and Parenting Teens (serves expectant and young mothers in foster care and their children)

For the existing SIL program, The CenterPoint Energy Foundation grant funded education support – completion of a high school diploma; assistance with navigating vocational training and certification and/or college, vocational assessments, assistance with job readiness, including coaching and training in soft skills, help with purchasing work uniforms and shoes, transportation to and from job sites, and online training programs. The teens also received life skills training: budgeting and banking, nutrition and meal preparation, credit management, personal health and hygiene, driver’s education, and related topics.

For the youth participating in the two new programs, located on the Today’s Harbor campus, the CenterPoint Energy Foundation grant provided on-site schooling as well as public education in partnership with LaPorte High School, vocational assessments, assessments with job readiness, including coaching and training in soft skills, help with purchasing work uniforms and shoes, transportation to and from job sites via Uber Teen, and online training programs, on-site childcare to assist teen mothers in completing their educations and engaging in employment. The funds were used to help program participants complete their educations, and when possible, earn early college credits towards associate’s degrees and/or certification in career fields of their choice, or completion of a college degree. They helped the youth gain work experience and vocational training so that they will successfully transition to adulthood and earn living wages. For the young adults (former foster youth), funds paid for items such as work uniforms and shoes, vocational testing feeds, transportation to and from work (bus passes; etc.), and education fees that were not covered by state stipends.

With the generous support of many donors and volunteers, DePelchin helped more than 1,450 children in our programs start the school year with new backpacks stuffed with supplies that will help them succeed in the months ahead.

DePelchin’s School Supply Drive is an annual event that allows us to provide essential support to children and families involved with foster care and other DePelchin programs. The supplies and new backpacks are generously provided by DePelchin donors. A very big thank you to all of our supporters who made a donation, hosted a donation drive, collected supplies, volunteered to stuff backpacks, and pitched in to help DePelchin families start the school year on the right foot.

We especially want to thank four of our partners in the business community for going above and beyond to help our kids go back to school well prepared: Tokio Marine, Houston Methodist, Bank of America, and Highland Homes.

We know that this is a critical time of year in children’s lives and regardless of whether you were able to take part in the School Supply Drive, there are still ways to help. Right now, the Sue Nan and Rod Cutsinger Foundation and the Ray C. Fish Foundation are matching every donation to DePelchin, up to $50,000. That means every $1 will go farther to provide even more vital resources and support for local children. You can donate here to our Back-to-School Match.

Schools are important partners in our work at DePelchin, and we know that the services we both provide to parents and families can help the youth in our community succeed. We also partner with many schools in the Houston area to provide school-based counseling, which helps schools meet the mental health needs of their students.

Thank you again to all who supported this year’s School Supply Drive and helped children in the Houston, Austin, Lubbock, and San Antonio areas to start the new school year with excitement and confidence.

On a muggy early-summer evening in Iowa Colony south of Houston, 15 men sat around the Chophouse Barber Company and shared what they had learned the past few months.

This particular evening, the group of men were attending their graduation from one of DePelchin’s fatherhood programs. Every Tuesday night since mid-March, the group had gathered at the barber shop, and this was its last meeting. Some of the men have toddlers, some have adult children, and some have no children at all. As they gathered around the barbershop this night, they shared a sense of gratitude for a welcoming group of peers gathering each week to talk about the responsibilities, challenges, and joys of consistently engaging in their children’s and stepchildren’s lives.

Some talked about the importance of tuning out distractions during play time and some talked about the need for consistent and open communication, while others talked about lessons learned from their own fathers. “This group really helped me connect the dots,” one participant said.

Usually, DePelchin offers classes for fathers at its main campus on Memorial Drive or in community centers, but this was the first time it had been offered in a business. Over several weeks, Joshua Williams, Program Coordinator of one of DePelchin’s fatherhood programs, had led the group through candid conversations about ways to connect with children, about co-parenting, and about the value of learning from each other.

“I like to open my doors to the community, whatever needs to be done,” said JP Faust, one of the founders of Chophouse Barber Company. “I think it is excellent for all these men to come together and it has been a great outcome.”

The group surprised Mr. Faust by contributing money they had collected among themselves to help with the cost of making his barbershop available for the weekly evening gatherings. He was so moved by the gesture that he went around the room and personally thanked each participant. In addition, A Bold Story Never Ends, a nonprofit organization that seeks to bring awareness to mental health issues and to support those impacted by them, provided refreshments for the group.

While the DePelchin fatherhood program at the Chophouse wrapped up that night, the men participating pledged to keep getting together and learning from one another.

“I hope you got as much from me as I got from you,” one shared.

DePelchin offers groups for fathers and other free parenting programs throughout the year, in-person and online. To learn more about DePelchin’s fatherhood programs, please click here.

DePelchin Children’s Center broke ground on its new Junior League of Houston Volunteer Services Building on Wednesday, May 22. The ground-breaking represents a major step forward in DePelchin’s service to children and families in the Houston area.

With a grand opening expected in 2025, the new two-story building will quadruple DePelchin’s capacity to provide donated goods to support families and children in need. The building — which will be on the DePelchin campus at 4950 Memorial Drive in Houston — will also expand DePelchin’s family classroom and volunteer workroom space, creating more room for programs that serve children and families.

DePelchin raised $8 million to construct the new facility through its Big Hearts, Bright Futures capital campaign. The Junior League of Houston helped launch that campaign last year with its Centennial Gift of $2 million, the largest single gift in the Junior League of Houston’s history.

“We are excited to begin construction on this building so that we can have a greater capacity to serve children and families,” said Jenifer Jarriel, DePelchin’s Board President and CEO. “We are grateful for our longstanding partnership with the Junior League of Houston, which generously chose to support DePelchin with its Centennial Gift. We also appreciate all of the supporters who have contributed to this new space.”

Mental health disorders among children and youth have been on the increase since before the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also a nationwide shortage of providers who can meet the mental health needs of children and youth. At DePelchin — during May, which is Mental Health Awareness Month, and throughout the year — we are working to serve more children by offering counseling services for children and youth in a variety of settings.

One in three Texas children experience a mental health disorder in a given year, according to the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. While the pandemic increased mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, the National Institutes of Health report that such conditions were on the increase among young people across the country in the years before the pandemic.

A lack of mental health providers exacerbates these challenges. According to the American Psychological Association, a major challenge is the lack of providers who can meet the mental health needs of children and youth.

DePelchin clinicians provide evidence-based counseling services in office settings and virtually. DePelchin clinicians also work in schools that do not have the staff available to provide mental health services. In 2023, DePelchin provided 18,700 counseling and therapeutic sessions.

“We provide counseling to the entire spectrum of problems, from families who have minor issues and conflict all the way to severe trauma,” said Dr. Charity Eames, DePelchin’s Director of Clinical Services. “We work with families who are intact, but also families experiencing a child placed outside the home.”

Over the past year, DePelchin has added 18 counselors to expand the number of children and families who can be served.

“Most of DePelchin’s programs are considered short-term counseling. We aren’t looking to provide services to families for years and years,” Dr. Eames said. “We are trying to help families figure out solutions to get over the crisis they are experiencing, how to learn some coping skills to deal with what’s going on, and in addition to that, how can they take these things that they have learned and generalize them when problems arise in the future.”

Mental Health Awareness Month is also an important time at DePelchin because the organization also provides foster care services. Chil­dren and youth who expe­ri­ence trau­ma, includ­ing abuse or neglect, are at increased risk for long-term emo­tion­al, behav­ioral and phys­i­cal health prob­lems, among oth­er chal­lenges.

DePelchin is grateful for the supporters who make it possible for us to offer counseling services. For more information about our counseling programs, please click here.

May is National Foster Care Month, and we are celebrating all of the families who provide temporary care for children through DePelchin. Our families come in all shapes and sizes and play a critically important role in the lives of children who have suffered from abuse or neglect.

DePelchin is always looking for more families to provide foster care, but families who are interested in caring for children may not know where to begin. Below, Samantha Schwartz, DePelchin’s Director of Foster Care Services, answers some common questions about the process of bringing a child into the home through foster care.

We hope this information will be helpful to anyone who is considering becoming a foster parent or looking to learn more about the needs of these children.

How does a child come to be in a foster home?

A phone call is made to a state hotline when someone suspects abuse or neglect. Depending on the severity of the allegation, they will send that family to get services first, because they want to try to help that child at home. We don’t always see those children right off the bat. If they can’t be kept at home, they typically explore kinship care — family or a close friend of the family to care for the child — before going straight to foster care.

At that point, if someone to provide kinship care cannot be found, they are officially removed, and that is when we and other child-placing agencies will get a call saying, “Hey, we have a 4-year-old boy, here are some of his needs, do you happen to have any homes that can care for his needs?” Then we look at our pool of families who are licensed and that may fit that child’s needs, and then we’ll call the family and give them the backstory of this child. We will go from there on placement and case manage them through permanency, whatever that is. Permanency could be to place the child back with the biological parents, it could be kinship, or it could be adoption.

So as a foster family, you may get a call and you are soon caring for that child for an indefinite amount of time?

Yes. Typically, if we are doing an emergency placement, we hope our families give us an answer within 30 minutes of getting that initial call. But then the placement typically happens within two to three hours after that initial phone call. We have had some kids placed with a family for less than 24 hours, and then we’ve had some kids place for four or five years. Each case starts out with reunification with the birth family as the initial goal for the child.

What are some misconceptions about foster care?

It is the type of families that can be licensed to provide foster care. A lot of people that think that there is just one type of family, a two-parent household. And that’s just not the case. We see families in different shapes and sizes, there is not just one type of family that fits.

Is cost a deterrent to providing foster care?

It definitely should not be. We help cover a lot of those costs. There are some out-of-pocket costs for a fire inspection and some things related to house safety that we ask families tocover. But there really isn’t a ton that we expect from foster parents throughout the licensing process. You don’t have to be rich to be a foster parent. We ask that you have a budget that has some wiggle room for allowing some kids to be placed in your home and supporting them while waiting on the reimbursement that the state provides.

Are there enough foster families for the children who need them?

There have always been families available for the younger children. And that one is always an easier placement to make. But we’re seeing more kids come in a little bit older, seven and older, and their needs are a little different. There is always a need for families that can take care  of groups of siblings.

What kind of training do foster families get?

They attend an orientation at the beginning of our process to kind of learn the ins and outs of foster care. Then they start the application process. Once they are getting close to the end of the application process, they go through our training, and it is anywhere from trauma-informed care to cultural competency and that you understand what’s needed for the child placed in your home.

If you are not in a position to serve as a foster parent, but you want to be supportive of foster families, what are some ways that you can help these children and families?

Respite care is a great way to help. There are different qualifications for short-term versus long-term, but it’s basically somebody that can help provide care for the child. It may be providing care for a few hours while the foster parents run to the grocery store, or so they can go to a movie on a Saturday night. If you are interested in maybe becoming a foster family, respite care is a great way to dip your toe in the water.

For more information about how to become a foster family through DePelchin, please visit our Prospective Parents page.