|
| Then...
In 1855, a group of four Sisters of Our Lady of Charity arrived in Buffalo, New York from France and soon after began caring for troubled and orphaned young women of the area. The Sisters opened Our Lady of Charity Refuge located on Best Street in Buffalo. For more than 100 years, the Sisters provided care and education to young women from Western New York who were placed at the refuge by Family Court or the Department of Social Services. In addition to shelter, the Sisters provided housekeeping, child care and job employment skills.
In 1970, the Sisters moved from the confines of their crowded urban neighborhood to a rural setting in the Town of Hamburg more suitable to the emerging programmatic needs. The 71-acre refuge included a modern "cottage type" residential treatment center with six cottages, six convent buildings,a chapel and a storage area. Plans to send the girls off-grounds to local schools did not materialize and the Sisters converted the Chapel and parts of other buildings into Hopevale Union Free School District. The Sistters named the new facility Hopevale and admitted the first resident in December 1971.
In March of 1976, the Sisters turned the operation of the agency over to a lay board of directors and hired an Executive Director. The new agency leased the property from the Sisters and began a standardized treatment procedure with established policies for the care of the young women. By 1985, Hopevale was operating with 98 young women in placement and a long waiting list for the regular program and the special services program.
And Now...
Hopevale is licensed for 94 youths and is located on a 40+acre site on Howard Road in Hamburg. The campus includes seven living units, outdoor recreation facilities, an administrative center, Building #20 housing the Parent and Child Trauma (PACT) program and wraparound services, the Father Gary Bagley Family Activity Center and a 42,000 square foot school complex, the Hopevale Union Free School District (HUFSD). One of thirteen special act school districts in New York State, our residents and HUFSD students enjoy smaller class sizes and more specialized attention and support. The Father Gary Bagley Family Activity Center, opened since 2001, offers residents and their families therapeutic, recreational, and leisure time opportunities.
In 2007, Hopevale was chosen to be the sole provider of non-secure detention services in Erie County for youth, ages 11 to 17, and opened its door to young men (Hopevale had been providing for females since 2001). While new to non-secure detention for boys, providing services to male youth contuinued a trend strated in 2005 when Hopevale began to provide residential treatment services to teenage boys.
First accredited in 2002, Hopevale was re-accredited in spring 2007 by the Council on Accreditation for Children and Family Services (COA), a child-and family-service healthcare accrediting organization. COA’s best-practice standards serve to define quality organizational practice and Hopevale re-accreditation is a testament to the agency's high quality services.
The majority of children placed at Hopevale come from the eight counties in Western New York. Most are young adults who have been the victims of neglect and physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Our goal remains to rebuild these young lives and return them to their homes as responsible members of society.
|
|
