Administrator's Message: Graduation one of many transitions

By Dan Howell
Chief Executive Officer

Graduation is always a bittersweet event at Anne Carlsen Center for Children.

We celebrate the many accomplishments of the young adults leaving us but more importantly, we help them through a major transition in their lives. And for many of the people we serve, transitions are not easy.

Because of medical or behavior needs a child might have, finding a suitable home for them may take months. Making sure adequate support is available for them is vital to their continued success.

There are many people from ACCC, as well as families and other care providers, involved in helping make transitions from here seamless. It doesn’t happen overnight.

And it doesn’t just happen when a person is 21, the oldest an individual can be to receive services from ACCC. Not all children do live with us and go to school here until they’re 21. On average, children live with us only for about four years.

That’s because we’re successful in helping children develop the skills and abilities they need to thrive in their home communities.

People often ask me where children go when they leave ACCC. Today, most children who leave here go to a group home in or near their home community. Many return to live with their families until they are adults, when they’ll move to an adult setting. And some, because of the intense medical needs they have, move to nursing homes.

Wherever and whenever they transition from ACCC, we have an obligation to help in that preparation. Our staff is keenly aware of all the pieces that must fall into place to help these children and young adults succeed.

It starts the day they move here and continues throughout their stay, as staff focus on helping them develop their physical strength, personal interests, and functional living skills and refine job skills they can use in their new homes and communities.

And graduation is, for us, the culmination of the extensive preparation to help these children succeed beyond the walls of ACCC.

Graduation is also the symbolic start of summer. But the children’s education doesn’t end just because summer begins.

Our summer program provides countless learning opportunities that extend beyond the half-day of classroom instruction most receive.

They learn at summer camp about all that technology can do to help them express themselves. They benefit from experiences in our flourishing garden as they get actively involved in growing plants and vegetables.

And they benefit from the traditional summer activities they get involved in – trips to baseball games, outdoor barbeques and fishing trips.

They are able to do these things because of your support. They are able to successfully transition from ACCC because you help us do more than just care for and educate them.