Boys Town Integrated Continuum of Services 

In 2007, Boys Town developed a strategic plan to help link the wide array of services it offers to children and families.  Boys Town developed this plan in response to its assessment that many community care systems are fragmented and disconnected. Boys Town offers an integrated continuum of services that provides children and families with the right care in the right service at the right time.  This system is linked in philosophy and in the methods used.  To support this integrated continuum, certain fundamental principles, values, and services must cut across all levels of these services and programs.  Some of the more important include:  Spirituality/Religious, Medical Care, Education Services, and the careful Coordination of Care to the child and/or their family.

Spirituality/Religious

Helping children and families build a strong spiritual and religious foundation is an important part of Boys Town’s mission. As Boys Town founder Father Edward Flanagan said many years ago, “Every boy must learn to pray.  How he prays is up to him.”  Equally important is the development of a value system that promotes and reinforces good character in youngsters. Positive character traits like respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and citizenship provide the framework for a child’s value education. Boys Town believes that teaching spiritual, personal, and character values is essential to every child’s success.  In programs where Boys Town does not directly provide spiritual guidance and religious services, the organization helps children and families find spiritual support within their own communities.

Medical Care

Boys Town clearly understands the importance of quality medical care and good health as an integral part of caring for children and families. Boys Town owns and operates the Boys Town National Research Hospital, which provides clinical and surgical services to patients from Boys Town’s own programs and for children and families across the country.  Medical research programs focus on childhood deafness, visual impairment, and related communication disorders.  Various clinics, including those that specialize in pediatrics and behavioral health, also provide medical care and services. Boys Town partners with and refers youth and families to medical services in communities that do not have a Boys Town hospital or clinic.

Education Services

Education is integral to providing effective treatment for children.  In many of the Boys Town residential programs, specialized educational services are embedded within the programs.  In some cases, children attend the local community schools, where Boys Town staff work closely with schoolteachers and personnel to help youth find success in the local educational system.  Boys Town also provides Education Training that successfully exports the Boys Town Education Model - a structured, proven system for improving youth behavior and responsiveness to education - to hundreds of schools across the country each year.  It is arguably the most widely disseminated method to help teachers and administrators assist behaviorally and emotionally challenged children in their schools.  Whenever possible, Boys Town provides this specialized training in the schools that Boys Town children attend.

Care Coordination

Boys Town attempts to provide the right services to children and families at the right time and in the right program.  This requires careful assessment and coordination of care for all of our children.  Boys Town’s Care Coordination programs provide intensive case management services for children in a variety of settings or levels of care.  In cooperation with local service agencies, Boys Town’s trained Care Coordinators work with family members, schools, and community resources to help families build and maintain stability, develop parenting skills, and identify and access appropriate community services.  Care Coordinators meet with children and families at regular intervals to make sure case plans are being completed and followed, and families are accessing needed services.  Care Coordinators are available to families 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for crisis support.