Youth Homes

The right way to grow up

Abused and abandoned children usually enter adolescence with few options beyond drugs, crime and gangs. CFLC believes that given the right to grow up these teens can transition to higher education, embark upon careers and eventually establish loving, responsible families of their own.

CFLC’s five youth homes challenge at risk teenage boys and girls from throughout Southern California to return to school, enter the workforce and enjoy a healthy, drug free life. Credit deficient students catch up through alternative and special education, public school and tutoring in preparation for college enrollment.  At sixteen they apply for paid work experience through CFLC’s Youth Job Training Centers or begin a personal job search with their counselors. Our teens also volunteer for community projects and learn independent living skills like cooking, cleaning, laundry and budgeting. Athletics, camps, hiking, sports events, animal husbandry, horticulture, exercise, nutrition and recreation replace the bad habits formed in their abusive childhoods.

This year CFLC was privileged to purchase a 2000 sq. ft. home for boys on 1.75 acres in Valley Center with a swimming pool and game room. We plan to add a basketball court, barn and livestock to our new Charlan Ranch this year.

 Through individual counseling and groups, CFLC Social Workers help these teens reunite with their mending families or achieve independence from generations of dysfunction. CFLC Youth Homes are spacious, comfortable, lively, animal-friendly environments staffed 24 hours a day with trained and devoted counselors. In 2009, 187 at-risk teens were given the right to grow up at CFLC's Youth homes this year.