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ACS Expands Programming with Opening of First
Long-Term Cottage
According to the Texas
Department of Family and Protective Services, 50 percent of youth “aging out”
of foster care become homeless within 18 months of leaving care. This is a heartbreaking story that can have a
very different ending.
On June 28, 2010, ACS
opened the Therapeutic
Living Center for Boys sponsored by the Michael &
Susan Dell Foundation. For the first time in our 26-year history, the Austin Children's Shelter has
begun a new program specifically designed to offer long-term care and transitional
living services for older teens and young adults who have voluntarily returned
to foster care.
Most teenagers and
young adults have family to teach them the skills they will need to move out on
their own and succeed. But youth in
foster care do not have a family to help them make this transition. And, these kids have experienced years of abuse
and neglect. The Austin Children’s
Shelter is committed to making a lasting difference for this special
population. Read the full story.
Kelly White to Be New CEO
The Austin Children's Shelter is pleased to
announce that Kelly White will serve as the Shelter’s new Chief Executive
Officer for ACS. She will join ACS in July.
"Kelly’s leadership skills and experience will
be tremendous assets as the Shelter enters an exciting expansion phase," says ACS Board Chair Ann Benolken. "We
wanted to find a strong, visionary leader who understands the Austin community and has the knowledge and skills to
successfully expand the continuum of care offered to Austin’s most vulnerable children. We believe that
Kelly is that leader."
Read the press release.
If
You Dream It, They Will Come
When we began planning the
eight building, 13 acre campus that we now occupy, our technology team began designing a robust system for voice, data, security and
audio/visual that would be advanced enough to be relevant for many years.
If
you dream it, they will come! That was the approach for recruiting
industry-leading technology solutions to support our mission. Thanks to
donations and support from more than 20 partner companies, organizations and
individuals, the Shelter was able to leverage relationships with community
partners to provide an enterprise-class technology infrastructure for this
campus for less than a quarter of the value. This is the story of that
successful effort. Read the full story...
Family
Attorney Talks to Boys at ACS About Parental Rights
Texas has one
of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the United
States and in fact, was ranked fourth in
the nation in 2005. In Texas, every ten
minutes a teen girl gets pregnant.
Most teen pregnancy programs are directed  toward girls. At
ACS, we established a child development program for boys and girls to teach
prevention and child development as well as the harsh reality of becoming a teen
parent. Recently, our teens
spent an evening learning about another side of the subject with Garrett
Higley, an attorney specializing in family law.
Mr. Higley volunteered to speak to all the teens at the Shelter
about paternity rights and he had a
captivated audience that asked lots of questions. The kids learned that teen fathers have rights and
obligations.
Mr. Higley talked with them about the importance of being a
father, what to expect regarding parentage, child support, and what their duties
and obligations are until the child turns 18.
“The
biggest revelation,” said Kathleen Weager, early childhood educator, “was that
the kids realized that fathers are legally responsible no matter what the age
of paternity.”
The
talk was so successful that we hope to have Mr. Higley back three or four times
a year to speak with the kids.
Charity Navigator Awards ACS Its Highest Rating
 Charity Navigator has awarded
ACS with their highest rating--4 Stars -- for the second
consecutive year. Charity Navigator gives this rating to
non-profits that have demonstrated exceptional financial health and outperformed
most of its peers in its efforts to manage and grow its finances
in the most fiscally responsible way possible. In a letter received with
the announcement, CEO Ken Berger states “Only
21% of the charities rated have received at least 2 consecutive 4-star
evaluations, indicating that Austin Children's Shelter consistently executes
its mission in a fiscally responsible way, and outperforms most other charities
in America. This “exceptional” designation from Charity Navigator
differentiates Austin Children's Shelter from its peers and demonstrates to the
public it is worthy of their trust.”
We are honored to receive this
distinction for the second time. View
our profile on Charity Navigator by clicking on the image.
ACS is Opening a Third Cottage!
 When we built the new campus, we knew it would take careful planning to ramp up from serving 30 children in two homes to serving 78 children in five cottages. Our plan was to expand carefully over an 18-month period. With the economic downturn last year, we had concerns that funding availability might cause us to scale back the timetable for the expansion, but instead, thanks to a generous gift from John Paul and Eloise Dejoria we were able to hire the additional staff needed and opened the third emergency shelter, the Kym & Bob Wunsch Emergency Shelter for Boys, in March.
The opening of this cottage allows us to serve more youth (up to 50) and provide space in the other cottages to serve more girls and young children. This opening fulfills our vision of having three emergency shelter cottages for children of all ages: one cottage for adolescent and teenage boys, one for adolescent and teenage girls and one for infants, toddlers, younger children and teen moms.
TDFPS Granted License to Open Long Term Cottages
On February 8th, the Austin Children’s Shelter reached a new milestone in its history. We received our license from the Texas Department of Family & Protective Services for the two cottages dedicated to provide long term care. With this official seal of approval, ACS can begin a new phase in programming to provide care for youth who need to be in a structured care facility for longer than 30 to 90 days the limit in an emergency care facility.
We are now working with TDFPS to secure a new contract so that they can begin sending youth to the Shelter. The first of the two long term cottages to open will be the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Therapeutic Living Center for Boys. The final cottage, the Pat & Bill Munday Therapeutic Living Center for Girls, will be opened later this year as funding becomes available.
CEO Gena VanOsselaer Steps Down After Nine Years of Leadership
After more than nine years of distinguished service  heading the Austin Children’s Shelter and the recent expansion to a new 13-acre campus, Chief Executive Officer Gena VanOsselaer is stepping down to pursue new interests.
“This has been the opportunity of a lifetime and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished for so many children in crisis,” Gena said. “The Shelter’s mission is one I believe in and I’ve given it my heart and soul. With the successful completion of the new campus now behind us, I believe the time is right for me to pursue personal endeavors and new ways that I can serve this community.” Read the press release.
A Dream Come True - Our New Campus is NOW Open!
On October 7, 2009, we celebrated the opening of our new campus with a Grand Opening Celebration that drew over 500 supporters each of whom helped fulfill our vision to better serve more children!
Elected officials, community  leaders, board members, Guild members, Kids’ Council members, donors, volunteers and staff came with their families to tour the new facilities and witness the official ribbon cutting ceremony. It was a night to remember as the journey that began nearly 14 years ago unfolded into opportunity! In 2003 Sara and Dick Rathgeber donated the land launching an expansion plan fueled by community support, and with the help of so many donors who gave their financial support and donated in-kind goods and services, the vision became a reality. Read the full story...
Mayor Leffingwell Kicks off iWitness Goodness Contest
Mayor Lee Leffingwell held a press conference with the Samaritan Counseling Center to announce the iWitness Goodness contest on August  18, 2009. ACS Executive Director Gena VanOssealer spoke on behalf of all of the partner charities. Participants can recognize acts of kindness or good deads on the Samaritan Center's new social media website, RecognizeGood.com and will be automatically entered to win up to $5,000 in Apple products. RecognizeGood.com is an online public forum where anyone can reward, acknowledge and promote others for their acts of kindness and unselfish charity. The site allows a user to automatically send an email to the honoree and, once accepted, the message is posted online to publicly recognize him or her for a recent good deed. Learn more about it here.
Photo: Nancy Blaich with Samaritan Center, Jeff Thomas with HEB, Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Gena VanOsselaer.
Texas Senate Honors Austin Children’s Shelter on 25th Anniversary
During the Senate session on Monday, May 18th, Senator Kirk Watson honored the Austin Children's Shelter  with Senate Resolution No. 630 recognizing the Shelter's 25th anniversary. The Senator took time for a photograph with representatives of the Shelter and presented a copy to ACS Executive Director Gena VanOsselaer. “We are deeply appreciative by this recognition of our work,” VanOsselaer says. “Senator Watson has been a champion of the Austin Children's Shelter for a number of years and we are very grateful for his continued support.”
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