Address:
610 Beverly-Rancocas Road
Willingboro, New Jersey 08046
Phone: 609-880-0210
Fax: 609-880-0230
Program Director: Tia Sanders
Program Coordinator: Sandra German
- History:
Second Chance Homes was developed in response to a need identified by Crossroads' residential program for homeless, pregnant or parenting teens, Capable Adolescent Mothers. Finding stable placements for these young families, once they had completed the program, was difficult for youth who did not have intact families to return to. In 1997, with the onset of Federal Welfare Reform and New Jersey's "WorkFirstNJ", the N.J. Department of Human Services contracted with Crossroads to provide Second Chance Homes, a safe, alternative, community-based living arrangement for teen mothers and their children in the seven counties in the Southern Region of New Jersey.
- Program Goal:
The program goal is to assist young mothers with a healthy, successful transition to independent living while also acquiring the skills needed to adequately parent their children.
- Target Population:
Funded by the Division of Family Development, the program targets teen mothers (aged 17 years and under) and their children who are not ready for independent living, and unable to live with relatives, and who are TANF – Temporary Assistance to Needy Families – eligible.
- Services:
- Provide Second Chance Homes (private family homes with responsible adult caregivers) in the seven counties of the Southern Region of New Jersey
- Interview, assess, and evaluate and train caregiver(s)
- Case management services
- Life skills training
- Parenting training
- Monitor the Second Chance Homes' youth, the placement, and the caregiver on a weekly basis
