21 Aug How Raystown Developmental Services is Helping Families and the Community

Raystown Developmental Services, Inc. is a home, school, community, and site based service provider in Pennsylvania. We offer a variety of behavioral health and intellectual disability services to children, adolescents, and adults in Huntingdon, Mifflin, and Juniata Counties. As a part of Pathways, we take pride in helping those in our care live their best lives, and in turn, to create stronger families and a better community at large. Read on to find out how.

Helping Families

At Raystown Developmental Services, we strive to help families with compassion and respect. Here are some of the vital services we offer.

• Family Preservation And Reunification: The Family Preservation And Reunification program offers intensive support to families with a child at risk for or currently placed out of the home. Working in cooperation with the family, and Children and Youth Services, we determine risk factors, and help families develop goals to address those risk factors, so that children can remain within their homes. For children placed out of the home, our goal is to help facilitate their safe return.
• Family Connections And Supervised Visitation: When a child is placed outside of the home, Family Connections is there to offer support. We understand the importance of continued contact for both the family and the child in placement. Through supervised visitation, this program helps to maintain those critical family attachments in the safest and most natural environment for the child.

Supervised Visitation normally takes place at the Raystown Developmental Services office, where we offer rooms for visitation. In addition to providing a safe and comfortable location, visits are monitored by trained staff members. Our job is to help advocate for the child during court-ordered visitation, and to ensure the safety and well-being of the child when spending time with non-custodial parents.

• Family Group Decision Making: This voluntary program focuses on the process of bringing families together with the people who support them, to assist the family in making decisions to keep their children safe. We provide Family Group Conferences, Family Court Conferences, Truancy Elimination Conferences, and Family Support Conferences. For more information on these services, click here.

Helping The Community

In addition to aiding families and children, our services are also designed to strengthen and emphasize individual choice for adolescents, and adults with special needs. We do this with the utmost care and an awareness of every individual’s right to privacy.

• Independent And Residential Living: For youths between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one in foster care placement, we provide and coordinate a variety of services that help support each individual’s goals as they work towards independence.

We also offer Residential Living support for adults with intellectual disabilities, providing a safe and nurturing environment with up to four individuals per home. Every individual has a right to live the life they choose, and personal choice is evident in the way homes are arranged and decorated. Family members are always welcome and invited to be a part of their loved one’s life, as we help these individuals in becoming fully integrated into their communities.

• Life Sharing And Community Participation Supports: Our Life Sharing program also provides support and supervision for adults with intellectual disabilities; as well host families that agree to provide caring and nurturing homes for these individuals. As members of the household, they are able to share in the responsibilities, challenges and successes that occur in the course of day-to-day family life.

Through our Community Participation Supports, adults with intellectual disabilities also have the opportunity to meet daily at a central hub for socialization and meaningful activities within the community.

As you can see, Raystown Developmental Services truly helps people in need. If you want to help others by joining our team of healthcare professionals, visit our website to learn about the many wonderful career opportunities with Pathways of Pennsylvania. And check back next week to learn about the ways The ReDCo Group is also helping families and the community, as well!

Interested in becoming a Life Sharing Provider with Raystown Development Services? Contact us today at 800-338-1299.

Pathways of Pennsylvania has been serving communities in Pennsylvania since 1981. Every individual has a right to lead a meaningful and positive life, and we are changing lives, one day at a time. Pathways of Pennsylvania is comprised of four companies: Children’s Behavioral Health, Inc., Pathways Community Services, LLC, Raystown Developmental Services, Inc., and The ReDCo Group, Inc.