​Father Edward Flanagan was a true visionary. When he founded Boys Town nearly a century ago in December 1917 as a humble home for wayward boys, Father Flanagan’s bigger dream was to someday reach out to help children all across America. Through sound leadership and groundbreaking innovations, that vision has been realized as Boys Town has grown into a national leader in child care.

Over the last three decades, Boys Town has evolved and expanded its programs to meet the growing and changing needs of America’s families. Today, our organization, originally best-known for saving homeless and abused youth, also provides many family-focused services that bring stability, strength and healing to struggling households across the country.

Under Boys Town’s current Strategic Plan, nearly 95% of the children we serve receive life-changing care while they’re still at home, with their parents or other caregivers. Preventing crisis situations by identifying and addressing family problems early is often much more effective and less costly than having to remove children from their homes and place them in foster care or other programs. Our follow-up research shows that children not only can be successfully and safely treated in their own families but also can achieve important outcomes like being successful in school and developing healthy relationships with others.

Much of this success is a result of our In-Home Family Services(IHFS) program, which helps prevent children from being removed from their homes or reunites children with their families, whenever possible, when removal is necessary. IHFS is offered at all of our Boys Town sites across the country and has served thousands of families. In the program, ​trained Family Consultants work with children and parents right in their own homes, building a personal relationship with family members as they help them overcome challenges and create a safe, nurturing home.

Boys Town also offers a variety of other services that help families, including:

• Boys Town National Research Hospital®
• Boys Town Care Coordination Services
• Boys Town National Hotline ^® (800.448.3000)
• Boystown.org/parenting
• Common Sense Parenting®
• Boys Town Outpatient Behavioral Health ^SM

  Healthy families are the backbone of solid communities and a productive society. By strengthening families in body, mind and spirit, Boys Town is ensuring that children and parents have what they need to reach their full potential.

For more information about Boys Town’s life-changing services, visit boystown.org.