Atkinson Family Services of Sacramento
Atkinson Family Services is a private non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation focusing on residential and educational treatment of special needs or abused children. Our Group Homes Foster Families and School serve both boys and girls. Our efforts include trying to help our children have good memories while they work on improving their lives.
www.atkinsonyouthservices.com
- Group Homes
- Foster Families
- Behavioral Health Clinic
- Thrift Store and Resource Center
- School
www.atkinsonyouthservices.com
About the Founders, Jim and Carla Atkinson
My husband and I are the founders of Atkinson Family Services. We became parents in 1963 and 1964, and then became foster parents in 1968. When we moved to Sacramento in the early 1980’s, we brought 13 children with us.
I graduated from San Jose State University in 1980, with a degree in Psychology. I worked on a Masters Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis on Child Welfare from the University of Southern California. With only one class to go I realized that I don't like business. In 1984, I asked Jim to join me, and he took the full time position of Executive Director and I became the Program Administrator. I studied the different ideas and approaches to counseling and decided that William Glasser’s Reality Therapy and Choice Theory made the most `sense to me.
In the late 80's, I became certified in Choice Theory. I am now on the faculty and am qualified as a practicum supervisor. It has become the bases of our program for our school, foster homes and group homes. We became a county group home in 1980, and incorporated as a California Non Profit and became a state group home in 1984. We work with emotionally disturbed children, many of whom have been sexually abused. We now have 6 group homes, a Foster Family Agency, and a Special Ed school for children with difficult behaviors, emotional problems, and learning disabilities. We employ 90 to 100 people to help provide these services.
We believe in Natural Families and work to return children to their families whenever possible. Most of our group homes have parents that live in. Our system has been very successful, although it is not for every child, nor for every problem.
Jim and I have now parented about 100 children personally, and right now have 53 grandchildren. We know our program works because we know the grandchildren and the quality life they are able to live because their parents are successful. “Helping Youth Succeed” is a collaborative effort of our group homes, foster homes, school, volunteers, teachers, and many friends and businesses in the community that are making a positive difference in the lives of these children.
I graduated from San Jose State University in 1980, with a degree in Psychology. I worked on a Masters Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis on Child Welfare from the University of Southern California. With only one class to go I realized that I don't like business. In 1984, I asked Jim to join me, and he took the full time position of Executive Director and I became the Program Administrator. I studied the different ideas and approaches to counseling and decided that William Glasser’s Reality Therapy and Choice Theory made the most `sense to me.
In the late 80's, I became certified in Choice Theory. I am now on the faculty and am qualified as a practicum supervisor. It has become the bases of our program for our school, foster homes and group homes. We became a county group home in 1980, and incorporated as a California Non Profit and became a state group home in 1984. We work with emotionally disturbed children, many of whom have been sexually abused. We now have 6 group homes, a Foster Family Agency, and a Special Ed school for children with difficult behaviors, emotional problems, and learning disabilities. We employ 90 to 100 people to help provide these services.
We believe in Natural Families and work to return children to their families whenever possible. Most of our group homes have parents that live in. Our system has been very successful, although it is not for every child, nor for every problem.
Jim and I have now parented about 100 children personally, and right now have 53 grandchildren. We know our program works because we know the grandchildren and the quality life they are able to live because their parents are successful. “Helping Youth Succeed” is a collaborative effort of our group homes, foster homes, school, volunteers, teachers, and many friends and businesses in the community that are making a positive difference in the lives of these children.