One of the privileges I have is having the opportunity to let our community know what is coming for Little Friends. There’s so much to do and while resources and personnel can be a constriction, it doesn’t serve as something to hold us back with our plans. It sometimes just means that things can’t happen as fast as we or families we serve want.
Regardless, as we approach the beginning of our 60th anniversary next year, I suspect that when Dottee Krejci started our first school for children with special needs, she would not have envisioned the services that Little Friends continues to build. Over the years, our one school has evolved into a clinic for children, adolescents, and families needing help with autism, a second school helping adolescents with social and emotional challenges and a day program serving adults from age 22 to for some in their 80’s. Beyond this, our residential program has expanded to 44 homes including one for children, and the balance, serving adults with varying needs.
Add to this a robust offering of Employment Services helping the neurodiverse have and maintain employment in different capacities depending upon their needs, not to mention Respite Family Services helping families with time for life’s needs multiple times a month all free to those who need these services so desperately. Recently, we added as part of our programming the FUN club, an adult social group that meets at our new adult facility at least once per month.
While broad given, we serve children starting at age three through end of life for an adult, our programming remains an opportunity for expansion and growth. Two new children’s group homes working in conjunction with the IL Department of Children and Family Services are in our upcoming plans. Recently, we received a grant from the DuPage Foundation to create with the help of Grow Wellness Foundation in Naperville Behavioral Health services for individuals and families who need counseling and other social supports. This new venture is an exciting venture that will have licensed counselors providing help to individuals and families. Assuming all goes to our plans, we will be launching this initiative in early 2025.
Beyond this, over the past several months we have been working with several families who have asked us to help them with residential support for their loved ones. Rather than wait for open residential homes provided by State programs, we have been approached to help provide support for families who wish to provide their own housing for a loved one but utilize Little Friends’ Residential team to manage the home with the programming and care we provide today. It’s a way for families to control their destiny as they look to create peace of mind, knowing what will happen to their child as they begin to reach a later time in life when questions about what will happen to their child become on the forefront of their minds. We are working with several families already in this capacity, and I anticipate that we will be opening more homes in the coming year based upon plans that have been shared with us.
Residential services for individuals with special needs are an issue in our State. At a conference in October, we learned that there are approximately 50,000 adults in the State of Illinois who desire residential support from an organization like ours but today live at home with their parents. The anticipated capacity to help these individuals should they need a place to live is lacking, and finding creative solutions to address this shortfall is a priority for us and as I have learned, the families that we are working with.
What’s above is not all that’s on the horizon. The reality is that we sadly are in a growing business. Our mission is to help and provide support for families and individuals where our services can create levels of independence and an improved quality of life. While challenging in a lot of ways, it’s the right thing to do, and our commitment is to continue finding ways to provide support in our community. Please know that what we do happens with your help, and for that support, thank you all for what you do!
