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1100 West Cermak Road
Suite B404
Chicago, Illinois 60608
312 377-4735
Our primary mission at Child Link is foster care, provided to area children through a contract with Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. We are proud to announce that upon our most recent DCFS review we were ranked Number One in the State for ensuring that the children in our care are placed into permanent homes with loving families. Our scores are excellent in all the areas DCFS reviews: child safety, legal support, and court performance.
Women - Investing in Our Future
Women have made many advances over the past few years, professionally, socially, and globally. Given the appropriate encouragement, girls are inspired to become successful women. Our mothers and grandmothers, strong women in their own right, pioneered the way for us, showing us dedication, commitment and at times outspoken courage in everything they stood for.
The young women we support have no mothers, grandmothers, aunts, or sisters to guide them, but with a little encouragement they can shine nonetheless. We need women who are willing to share their broader life experiences and sponsor the extra curricular activities, educational supplements and scholarship endowments that assist in building successful, well- educated and well-rounded young women.
Our annual Women's Initiative Luncheon brings together women in business, industry, and government, as well as civic leaders, to support our Girls First Club and Professional Mentoring.
Providing permanency for young people, especially young men, is especially challenging. During adolescence, young people can become increasingly vulnerable to negative influences in the community. Often these youth find themselves in high-risk situations. There are hundreds of homeless youth in Illinois. We seek out shelters, churches, police authorities and youth services that are the first contact for homeless youth. We recently identified between 50-75 homeless youth on Chicago's West Side. Many are without basic necessities.
We provide homeless youth with immediate intervention support and coordinate delivery of emergency supplies, clothing, and recreational items. They are unaware of their options or the kind of services they are eligible for. We provide clinical services within 24 hours of contact. We also arrange for an intake evaluation to determine the cause of their homelessness, and begin to develop an Individual Service Plan around their needs. Often they are ill when they come from the streets. Many do not have medical support; we provide medical examinations and work to procure medical cards for future use.
Many homeless youth are not aware that there are several different options available to them, from full independence while working or going to school to living with foster parents or in a group home. We work to understand the conditions that led to their homelessness, provide them with advocacy regarding their best options, and begin to develop a long-term permanency plan for each youth.
As a community, we are frustrated seeing young people suffer the effects of their environment. It is exhausting to seeing so many falling into the gang trap. Yet another teen death, whether from gang violence or suicide, is so unnecessary. We need to come together to provide youth counselors in the community and avoid the senseless loss of these young lives.
Youth counseling is a service that is desperately needed in our community. Out of 42 local organizations, only three have youth counseling services and only one serves the general public. Child Link hopes to provide youth counseling to all those teens who seek help.
Child Link will have clinical consultations to evaluate the children's and adolescents’ physical and psychological makeup and thus determine their needs. Our licensed professionals work with the youth and their families to formulate a plan to provide them with the treatment required. This may include individual, group and family therapies, as well as referral linkage for other needed services.
The need for youth counselors is greater today than ever before. Without resources, valuable programs are often unable to benefit those who really need it. Please join us in building a comprehensive youth counseling program in the Pilsen, Little Village, and Lawndale areas that will benefit so many of our troubled youth.
The support of our donors and volunteers make all of these pioneering programs possible. Our volunteers provide professional mentoring to our Girls First Club. Volunteers organize and promote our fund-raising events, and provide support services like graphic design and public relations. To get involved in changing the lives of disadvantaged kids, contact Child Link to see what volunteer opportunities are right for you: info@childlnk.org
Download our Volunteer Enrollment Form. (38KB doc file)
School Supply & Clothing Drive
“Back to school” is a time of year that always brings mixed feelings. Most children are sad to see the summer end, but eager to be reunited with old friends. Many of the children we serve, however, will not be seeing old friends again. For them there may be very little to anticipate when returning “back to school.” We hope the promise of new school supplies and clothes will bring a smile to the faces of these youngsters.
Child Link solicits help from area corporations to donate new school supplies and clothing for our children. Donations have included Trapper Keepers, 64 boxes of crayons, Bic erasable pens and piles of ruled paper. Retailers such as the Disney store, Talbot's for Kids, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, and Gifts In Kind International have generously donated the children's clothing.
Baby Supply Drive
We currently care for over one hundred children, including infants. Car seats, strollers, and other baby supplies are desperately needed. State budget cuts have affected our agency greatly. For each child we are now given $1/month for baby equipment and $1/month for clothing, which includes shoes and coats. In attempts to make up for the loss in revenue, Child Link holds a Baby Supply Drive, which has proven very successful, thanks to area organizations such as LaGrange Area Newcomers and Neighbors.