April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when DePelchin focuses on raising awareness and recognizes the importance of communities working together to strengthen families and children; it’s a time when we call on our supporters to work alongside us in this effort – we can’t do this important work alone!

Every April, we invite DePelchin donors, volunteers, and staff to our Houston campus to tie blue ribbons along our fence line, each one representing and honoring a victim of child abuse and neglect in Harris County. In 2024, there were 5,959 confirmed victims of child abuse and neglect in Harris County and 53,543 victims across Texas. Each year, our blue ribbon display is a powerful sight that calls attention to this issue with the hope that, one day, we will no longer have any ribbons to tie.

We also proudly highlight the programs and services we offer to children and families to help keep them safe. We work hard every day to provide safe and loving homes and to also help children and families before abuse and neglect happens:

• Parenting classes. These programs help equip parents with the strategies and approaches they need to maintain loving, caring homes for their children — including programs that are specifically focused on fathers and their unique roles in their children’s lives.

• Counseling services to support children and parents. Our clinicians help DePelchin clients facing any number of mental health issues. Our counseling services are free for children and adults, and we offer them in a variety of settings to meet our clients’ needs.

• The DePelchin Family Resource Centers in Houston and San Antonio. This is a convenient hub of support in the community for families seeking a variety of services – no appointment needed. For example, families who visit the centers can sign up for parenting or counseling services or learn about other resources of support from DePelchin and other organizations.

We also help children and families throughout the process of adoption when it is not possible to reunify the child with their birth parents. If a child needs a family to provide temporary care before they can be reunited with their parents, DePelchin also finds foster families for those children and works closely with the families to ensure they are able to meet that child’s needs.

We all have a role to play in helping to prevent abuse and neglect, from offering support and encouragement to families who may be struggling, to learning more about how to detect and report suspected abuse, to supporting DePelchin programs. We also appreciate those who are engaged in preventing abuse and neglect with us — whether they are staff, volunteers, or supporters.

DePelchin is honored to be engaged in this critical work and we thank all who make it possible!

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.