Emergency Shelters
Park's Youth Ranch
The goal of the emergency shelter at Park's Youth Ranch is to first offer youths a safe environment in which to live and then to provide tools and resources that will guide them into a secure housing situation, promote education and vocation success and attend to emotional, social and spiritual needs.
The 90-day licensed shelter provides temporary housing for males and females ages 13-17 who are homeless or at-risk of being victimized. These youth are referred by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Juvenile Probation and voluntary, private placements from the community - teachers, counselors, religious leaders, friends, etc. In this supportive and structured environment, our professional staff and counselors address a variety of family situations requiring: referrals, intervention, mediation, and counseling.
Panhandle Assessment Center
The Panhandle Assessment Center provides
emergency shelter and foster care for children who have been removed from their
homes because of physical and/or sexual abuse or neglect, which was not always
possible in previous emergency placements. PAC's staff takes care of each
child's immediate mental and physical health needs. They then work to complete
behavioral assessments of the children during the 30 to 90 days in the shelter.
The assessments facilitate the proper future placement of the child, which
might include:
- Returning the child home when possible and helping the family obtain resources and services necessary to maintain a safe and nurturing atmosphere for the child;
- Placing the child in basic or therapeutic foster care
- Placing the child in a residential treatment center
- Referring the child for psychiatric evaluation and/or hospitalization
The Panhandle Assessment Center also provides an on-campus school with an accredited teacher for those students having special education needs
