In March 1969 Rex Smith, one of the original founders of Hearts & Homes for Youth, prepared a report called “The House That People Built: Anatomy of a Group Home in Suburbia.” The subject of the report was the Boys’ Home of Montgomery County, which is now known as Hearts & Homes for Youth. Here are some excerpts from the report.

Boys’ Home Concept

The concept of the Boys’ Home involves an understanding that there are youths in the community who are in need of professional guidance and supervision but for various reasons cannot be worked with in their home. Before Boys’ Home there was no alternative program to a training school commitment or an ill-advised placement on probation. It makes good sense that if we are to treat the behavior problems of these troubled youth we must treat them in their entirety. This means working with the youngsters’ family, school, and community – a task that cannot be accomplished if the young person does not reside within the community itself.

The Boys’ Home is interested in working with youth and family, toward a better understanding, acceptance, and respect for the other. The concept itself, that of a small group residence of eight to ten youngsters, is not to be aborted. The integrity of maintenance of the small setting in a homelike atmosphere is an ultimate concern. The group home for these youngsters is not conceived of as being a high-powered psychiatric facility. Youngsters who are seriously disturbed and in need of intensive psychiatric treatment would not be admitted to the Home. Although we realize the nature of these problems and the need for a residential treatment center, the relative freedom of taking responsibility for oneself in a group home is not conducive to these children. The home will have youngsters with particular behavior problems resulting in difficulties in the home and in the school, perhaps even the community. For the purposes of staff training, provision for psychiatric consultation is made.

The group home cannot satisfy all levels of behavior disturbance for all youngsters. The community must be aware that in addition to group homes it must provide a variety of other services to meet the needs of many youngsters who cannot profit from the group home setting. The concept involves what has been termed by professionals as the “therapeutic milieu,” which means that by having to deal with others in his peer group from similar backgrounds and with similar problems, the youngster learns to deal more effectively with his own personal concerns. In addition, the youngster learns to deal more effectively with a compassionate and stable staff while working out his problems, which often result in a heightened level of anxiety and perhaps even “acting out” in the home.

The nature of the Boys’ Home itself allows for a high degree of tolerance for this type of behavior and a greater degree of understanding on a professional level than does ones own home where such behavior can be disrupting to parents and other children.