Lutherbrook looks to help children, teens

Most of us grow up sure - without ever questioning it - that someone loves us. Most children can just feel the support and protection a family is supposed to provide.

But childhood has not felt safe and secure for the young people staying at Lutherbrook Child and Adolescent Center in Addison. Too often, they've been abused or neglected by the very people who were supposed to care for them most.

Lutherbrook, part of Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois, is a residential program that provides individual, group and family therapies as well as on-site schooling at Lutherbrook Academy to help children overcome the abuse they've suffered. Ultimately, the residents gain the self-esteem needed to form meaningful relationships.

The program is one in a statewide network of social services that strives to protect children and strengthen families. Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois offers adoption, foster care and counseling at 30 sites including Downers Grove and Elgin.

Lutherbrook Bowl-A-Rama offers supporters a chance to help over the course of four bowling sessions on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 7 and 8. The annual event has raised more than $240,000 in the past five years, funding a 12-passenger van and car to transport residents, a heating and air conditioning system, an electronic display and a playground at Lutherbrook, said Sara Erickson, LCFS communications coordinator.

Officials plan to use this year's proceeds to buy a van for Lutherbrook Academy students and to beautify the residential homes for the 8- to 14-year-olds living at Lutherbrook.

Erickson describes the agency's efforts on behalf of children and families.

Q. What is your mission?

A. Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois attracts, develops, mobilizes and provides resources to improve the well-being of children, individuals, families, congregations and communities so their lives are improved.

Q. How do you work toward accomplishing that goal?

A. We are a nonprofit social ministry organization that serves more than 35,000 individuals annually through programs such as foster care, adoption, counseling, youth residential treatment facilities including Lutherbrook in Addison, and a variety of community services that include food and clothing distribution, disaster relief and a retreat/youth camp.

Lutherbrook Child and Adolescent Center provides high-quality residential treatment and special education services to at-risk children and youth. In partnership with the children, their families and communities, Lutherbrook provides a safe environment within which youth build on their strengths and develop new skills that will ensure their success in family and community living.

Q. Who do you serve?

A. We serve children, individuals, families and communities of all faiths, races and ethnic backgrounds throughout the entire state of Illinois.

LCFS' Lutherbrook program serves emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children and youth ages 6 to 18. Most of the children and youth exhibit symptoms from the experience of multiple traumas. The residential services are accessed by communities throughout Northern Illinois and Lutherbrook Academy's special education program is used by school districts for which the campus is within a reasonable proximity of home.

Q. When and why did LCFS start? How has it grown?

A. LCFS began in 1873 when 14 congregations established the German Evangelical-Lutheran Orphan Home Association of Northern Illinois in Addison, where now stands the current village hall. Over the years the agency merged with other organizations and expanded its services to cover the three primary focus areas of children's services, clinical services and community services.

In 1970 the agency's name officially was changed to Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois. Today, the agency employs more than 400 individuals and has about 30 service sites. One of our core programs, Lutherbrook Child and Adolescent Center, a comprehensive residential treatment campus and specialized education center for children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders, still stands on the site of the original orphanage in Addison.

Q. What kind of successes have you had?

A. The children and youth of Lutherbrook typically struggle with being able to effectively verbalize their concerns and history. In response, Lutherbrook provides extensive individual and group therapy opportunities to develop children and youth's abilities to understand their past and forge a new future.

In addition to traditional talk therapies, Lutherbrook provides children and youth with extensive exposure to the expressive therapies such as art therapy, music therapy, dance movement therapy and animal-assisted therapy.

Through art therapy, for example, one child has had several successful public exhibitions of his work. In addition to the therapeutic benefits of artistic expression, this experience of telling his story has given the child the opportunity to make more meaningful connections with other children, adults and the community at large.

Q. What challenges does LCFS currently face?

A. An ongoing challenge for us is identifying and recruiting foster parents to serve the thousands of children in need of a loving and stable home. During the current economic environment, we also face the challenge of a decline in giving and uncertainty in government funding. We need generous and faithful partners that will help us to continue to serve those in greatest need.

At Lutherbrook Child and Adolescent Center, we are serving children and youth who present increasingly more intense and complicated needs. It is a challenge for us, within a limited budget, to provide for the full array of services from which these youth would benefit.

Q. What would surprise most people if they spent a week with LCFS?

A. Most people would be surprised to learn how extensive LCFS' service area is and that we serve all those who need our services. We are a statewide organization that services nearly 35,000 individuals a year through a wide array of services that include adoption, foster care, residential treatment, family and crisis counseling, food and clothing distribution, disaster relief and more.

In regard to Lutherbrook, people might be surprised to learn the extent to which Lutherbrook is an integral part of the Addison community. Many children and youth attend school in the community and some of the older youth have jobs within the community.

Many alumni of Lutherbrook reside in the area and are productive, contributing members of the community. Lutherbrook is a major employer in the local community with a highly dedicated staff committed to helping the special children we serve.

Q. How can readers get involved?

A. There are four primary ways to get involved:

• attend one of our special events, such as the Lutherbrook Bowl-A-Rama on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 7 and 8;

• participate in an in-kind drive such as Back-to-School or Christmas;

• donate directly to support one of our programs online at lcfs.org/contribute;

• volunteer to serve on one of our event committees including Bowl-A-Rama, golf and Harvest Gala.