About Us

Our Commitment

Lawrence Hall Youth Services provides highly specialized and individualized care for children and adolescents, from infancy through young adulthood, with severe emotional and behavioral challenges due to trauma, abuse and neglect.

We are a critical link in the Illinois child welfare system, caring for nearly 1,000 children, adolescents and their families each year from Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kendall and McHenry counties.

Each year, Lawrence Hall’s continuum of care offers a full array of services through:

• Foster Care Program – Provides safe, secure, and nurturing homes for children removed from their natural families because of abuse or neglect. Home of relative, traditional, and specialized foster care homes provide temporary protection for children until they can return to their families, transition to a guardianship arrangement or adoption.

• Therapeutic Day School – A fully-accredited Therapeutic Day School and Diagnostic Education Program specializes in educating children and adolescents with emotional challenges, behavioral disorders and learning disabilities that inhibit success in public school settings.

• Residential Treatment Program – Provides a home and comprehensive therapeutic treatment for youth with emotional disturbances and behavioral disorders that stem from the trauma of abuse and neglect. Our Residential Treatment Center, Family Community Homes, and specialty service centers treat trauma and promote family attachment and bonding to create and support a strong family connection.

• Older Adolescent Program – Helps youth transition from our Therapeutic Day School, Residential Care and Foster Care Programs to more independent living situations. Each young adult receives specialized care, support, supervision and life skills services to ease the transition to adulthood.

• Complementary Services – Clinical Services, Expressive Therapy, Therapeutic Recreation, Pastoral Care, Balance and Restorative Justice, and Lesbian, Gay, Straight and Transgender (LGBT) Support.

Who We Serve

Lawrence Hall Youth Services serves children, adolescents and young adults ranging from birth to 21-years-old, who have been removed from their homes by the State, and placed temporarily in our care. Others live with their natural families but seek specialized services due to disabilities or unique needs.

The children in our care are 77% African American, 6% Latino, 5% Caucasian, and 12% other minorities. Many have severe and profound behavior disorders, emotional disturbances, and/or learning disabilities that promote disruptive behavior and socio-economic failure. Most are diagnosed with disorders including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Impulse Control Disorder, mood disorders and all varieties of depressive disorders. Most of them have been neglected or abused. All of them come from deprived backgrounds, in which there was limited access to education, health care and social services.