Residential Care

The residential programs of The Home for Little Wanderers range from group homes to intensive treatment facilities. In the group homes, children or adolescents are in transition back to their families or going on to independent living, but need support in order to make a successful transition back to their communities. The more intensive residential programs are staff secure facilities for children and adolescents who have either been removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect or who are not able to function in the community due to severe behavioral problems.

Baird Center
Located on a 50-acre site in Plymouth, the Baird Center serves as a residential, day and summer school for troubled adolescent boys. The Center is comprised of 21 buildings, including 19 cabins, and has a residential capacity of 32. The Baird Center operates a residential treatment center for boys from 10 to 16 years of age, and a community-based group home for boys from 13 to 18 years of age. The Center's services include individual, family, and group therapy, psycho-pharmacological evaluation, psycho-diagnostic evaluation, educational evaluation, sexual abuse victim/abuser evaluation and treatment and firesetters evaluation and treatment. The Center also offers extensive group recreational activities and several pre-vocational programs for its older clients. The Baird Center School is an approved private special education school for academically and emotionally challenged boys aged 10 to 16. Classes consist of five to seven boys, and are specially tailored to their students.

Harrington House
Located in Mission Hill, Harrington House is a 12 -bed group home serving children ages 8 to 13 and their families. The program provides residential treatment by offering a safe, structured home-like, living environment. Children living at Harrington House participate fully in the community through school attendance and extracurricular activities. The program offers clinical services, health services, psychiatric services, educational assistance, milieu therapy, and case management services.

Knight Children's Center
Based in Jamaica Plain, the Knight Children's Center (KCC) has both residential and day treatment programs. KCC serves boys and girls ages 5 through 13 who have serious emotional, behavioral, and learning problems. The residential program has a capacity of 35. The goal of the program is to provide comprehensive treatment to children and their families in order to reunite them or enable children to safely move to a less restrictive living environment. KCC also offers a year-round, approved private special education school that prepares children to return to a less-inclusive classroom setting. KCC provides individual, family, dyad, and group therapy, psychological testing, medical care, psychiatric services, and a structured 24-hour therapeutic milieu. The program works in conjunction with the Department of Children and Families, the child's school system, and other involved collaterals to coordinate outreach, advocacy, case management, discharge planning, and after care planning.

Longview Farm
Founded in 1940, Longview Farm is located on a 160-acre site in Walpole. Longview offers residential treatment for emotionally disturbed boys ages 10 1/2 to 17, and an approved private special education school, the Clifford School. Longview has a residential capacity of 25. Services include individualized treatment plans, a year-round outdoor education/adventure program, psychological and educational evaluations and assessments, and pre-vocational training. The facilities include four large classrooms, a computer lab, a resource room, a gymnasium, and a pre-vocational shop area (i.e. small engine/automotive repair, woodworking, and electricity).

Roxbury House
Located in Roxbury, Roxbury House is a group home for twelve adolescent males, ages 11 to 16 years old. Some of the adolescents are preparing themselves for returning to their families or foster care, while others are preparing for independent living. Regardless of their plan, the program works with residents to help them develop the skills they will need to become contributing members of the community. Services include: individual, family and group therapy; psychopharmacological consultation and management; health care coordination; and psychoeducational groups.

Waltham House 
Waltham House is a group home program designed to provide a safe and supportive living environment for up to 12 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) youth ages 14-18. The program also serves youth who may be questioning (Q) their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Many young people have previously experienced difficulty (at home or in placement) due to their gender expression or sexuality identities. Waltham House offers residents a safe environment to live while they prepare for family reunification, independent living and future self-sufficiency.

Click here to learn more about Waltham House.