Integrated Continuum of Care

Integrated Continuum of CareSM

Boys Town developed its Integrated Continuum of CareSM as part of an ambitious, ongoing effort to expand the life-changing care we provide to children and families across the United States. The Continuum is unique to Boys Town and enables us to deliver the right treatment at the right time to troubled children and families who are edging toward crisis.

The Integrated Continuum offers the following levels of care:

Unifying Elements

Across the Continuum’s service levels and in all programs, treatment is consistently effective because it’s based on the research-proven Boys Town ModelSM. As children and families make progress (or fail to make progress) at one level, they can move to other levels that better fit their needs, without starting over in their treatment and all within the same treatment model.

Services toward the top of the Continuum provide more intensive care and interventions to children with serious emotional or behavioral problems. Children receive these services outside of their homes, so reunification with their families, whenever possible, is always the ultimate goal.

Services toward the base of the Continuum focus on helping families stay together, preventing children from being removed from their homes, and assisting parents by providing training, counseling and other resources.

To support the Continuum, certain fundamental principles, values and services cut across all levels. In each service and program, this approach enables Boys Town to:

  • Help children and families build a strong spiritual foundation and make Boys Town values a part of everyday life.
  • Promote the value of education to children and families.
  • Ensure children and families learn healthy living skills to promote positive family life.
  • Partner with families and resources in the community to ensure children receive the level of service that best meets their needs.

The need is great. So Boys Town is developing the Integrated Continuum of CareSM at sites across the country as an alternative to the nation’s fragmented and overburdened child and family care system. Existing programs at Boys Town locations provide the foundation for spreading the Continuum. Please visit our Locations page for information on the specific programs available at each site.

Unifying Elements

To support and further connect Boys Town’s Integrated Continuum of CareSM, certain fundamental ideals, standards, and principles cut across all service levels and programs. We call these our “Unifying Elements,” and they enable us to put the needs of children and families first in providing consistent, effective care and treatment.

Safety, Permanency and Well-Being

  • Children and families must be safe and feel safe in any treatment setting.
  • Treatment goals include helping children and families get better so they can live in a safe, stable, and permanent home setting.
  • Helping children and families make positive changes can ensure their present and future well-being.

Family Engagement

In any program, families are active, essential members of their children’s treatment team, partnering with Boys Town to plan and develop strategies that best meet the children’s needs.

Religion and Faith

Religion and faith give children and families a foundation of strength for overcoming difficult treatment issues and problems.

Behavioral and Medical Research

Ongoing, leading-edge research helps develop new programs, measures the effectiveness of Boys Town’s care and treatment, confirms what’s working and what’s not, and identifies when changes are needed.

Father Flanagan’s dream of helping children of all faiths was unique in 1917 and is a testimony to his love for his God and fellow human beings. Those rock-solid underpinnings of spirituality and humanity have been inseparably linked throughout Boys Town’s history. In encouraging boys and girls to seek the strength that comes from leading a life of faith, we respect their religious beliefs while nurturing their spiritual growth.

Boys Town Executive Director Father Steven E. Boes echoes the powerful spiritual messages of his predecessors. “Faith is the foundation that gives us hope. It replenishes the spirit and gives rise to new beginnings. With the help of God’s love, you can find a new direction for your life.”

Boys Town is the only child and family organization that offers a broad spectrum of treatment for youngsters’ emotional and behavioral problems, while providing expert healthcare through the Boys Town National Research Hospital in Nebraska.