| ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Founded in 1862, McQuade is a private, accredited not for profit organization dedicated to providing therapeutic residential care, special education, community group homes, emergency shelter services, and community based prevention programs for special needs children and their families. | ||||||||||||||||
|
Who We Help
The children we serve are at-risk of not reaching their
life's full potential. This may be a result of family crisis, educational
issues, severe emotional or behavioral problems that are affecting their
lives at home, in school, and in the community.
As a regional organization, we accept Hudson Valley children referred by NYS departments of social services, family courts, or school districts, (excluding New York City). 100% of the children in our preventive programs are from Orange County. Over 50% of the students in our residential and day school programs are from Orange, with the remainder from Dutchess, Ulster, Westchester, Putnam, Sullivan and Rockland Counties.
The Kaplan School
Changing Lives by Changing Attitudes!
Kaplan School Overview
McQuade's Kaplan School provides special education and behavioral health services
year-round for 116 boys who are emotionally disturbed, ages 7-17. Forty-four
of the students live at the Kaplan Campus in our residential treatment program
and the other 72 students live at home with their families, but attend the Kaplan
School daily for their educational needs as well as individual and family therapy.
As a regional organization, we accept Hudson Valley students referred by NYS
departments of social services, family courts, or school districts.
The 116 at-risk, special needs children whom are students at the Kaplan School come to us burdened with a wide array of challenges. Their primary diagnosis is emotional disturbance. Secondary Diagnoses include Learning Disabilities, Behavior Disorder, Oppositional Disorder, and Attention Deficit Disorder. The children at the Kaplan School have experienced difficulty at home, at school and in the community and are in need of varying levels of supervision, structure, and clinical services.
Each self-contained classroom at the Kaplan School is led by a special-ed certified teacher, and a teaching assistant. Our teachers help the children reach personal academic goals, gain self-confidence and learn how to succeed. The school's small classes of eight to twelve enable teachers to help students develop a love for learning and improve their academic performance and behavior. Formal education focuses on the areas of reading, math, writing and NYS mandated curricula. Art, music, technology, computer-assisted instruction and physical education are also offered.
The Kaplan School runs year round with 180-day Academic Year and a 30-day Summer School. There is a student dress code of polo shirts and khaki pants, which reduces distractions and competition allowing for positive student interaction. We have 100% compliance in the Dress Code.
The Kaplan School NYS Regents Approved curriculum is transferable to any NYS school district and provides our students with challenges and goals to strive for. Curriculum emphasis is on classroom behavior, academic growth and personal development.
Learning is exciting at the Kaplan School through an Integrated Thematic Instruction focused on character and career development and Experiential Learning through field trips and on-site programming.
A Behavior Skills Classroom concentrates on building emotional, behavioral and social skills to students most in need of additional structure and support.
Introduction to Occupations- The goal of Introduction to Occupations (IO) is to introduce the student to the complex world of job and career choices, leading the student on a practical journey of discovery beginning with self-awareness. Students assess their own strengths, interests, skills, lifestyle and personality factors. After developing a clearer picture of their wants and needs, IO will lead them into the field of job and career markets, exploring job descriptions, availabilities, possibilities, trends and employments factors such as: location, environment, salary, education and training. IO teaches students the strategy of job searching and application procedures. The student will be guided through the application, interview and personnel processes to get a fully rounded career search experience. Field trips connected with the curriculum take place throughout the year.
Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program- Students who have difficulty with interpersonal relationships gain confidence and maturity when caring for and riding a horse.
Site
Location
* 22-Acre Campus located in the suburban setting of New Windsor, NY
* Attractive brick school built in 1986 with attached gymnasium and outdoor
pool
* New 20,000 sq.ft. addition built in 2007
Assessment
* Report cards and Mid-Term reports are prepared for each marking period.
* Individual Education Plan (IEP) for each student addresses strength,
weaknesses, and goals.
* In responding to the needs of the child, the school faculty works closely
with the social service department and participates in the treatment team
and planning process
Behavior Challenges
One of the unique abilities of our school program and our residential
treatment center is to help students gain control of their anger and frustration
and develop coping skills to redirect this negative energy toward positive
gains. We do this with a team approach: teachers, administration and social
workers set goals for each child and communicate freely about progress.
This team approach successfully makes inroads with even the most difficult
children.
Level System
We use a level system that inspires students to improve their academics
and behavior because they will receive more privileges as they do so.
Privileges include special fields trips, leadership opportunities, and
more.
Parents
Parents are invited to attend an Open House twice a year to meet with
the student's teacher and social worker, and have an opportunity to view
the student's portfolio of work.
Special Events for Students
Earth Day
Moving Up Day
Independent Living Skills Day
Field Day
The
Kaplan School services many participating school districts from Orange, Dutchess,
Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester Counties, including...
Arlington
Beacon
Bedford
Brewster
Carmel
Chester
Cornwall
Ellenville
Highland Falls
Hyde Park
Kingston
Middletown
Millbrook
Minisink
Monroe-Woodbury
Monticello
Newburgh
North Salem
Ossining
Pine Bush
Port Jervis
Poughkeepsie
Wallkill
Wappingers
Westchester
Visual and Performing Arts and Music Programs help students use their unique self-expression. Students thrive in a creative and energetic environment that values their unique expression. Performance projects demand cooperation, teamwork, communication and trust. Visual arts promote personal interpretation and experimentation. Success in the arts translates into confidence, builds relationships, and improves behavior academics.
Percussion and Dance Ensemble
Most children arrive at the Kaplan School for Special
Education believing that they have failed at home and at school. We have
found our performing arts program, specifically the McQuade Percussion
and Dance Ensemble, to be uniquely effective in breaking through the cycle
of failure.
Our Percussion and Dance Ensemble Teacher, Judith Muldoon, teaches students to play conga and djembe drums, bells and other percussion instruments, as well as Brazilian and African movement, with the goal of not only working together toward the creation of a complete performance, but of learning how to teach a drumming workshop themselves so that when they are ready, they can bring something back to their families, new schools or communities. The Ensemble students help with every aspect of a performance or workshop, costumes, booking, travel arrangements and care of their instruments.
A unique part of the Ensemble is the Music-To-Go program,
whereby children who are discharged to their home school districts or
other, less intensive placements are given their own new instruments to
take with them. Students in the Ensemble have increased self-esteem, less
anger and incidences of acting out, and a sense of pride about being a
part of this group. These students are admired and applauded by their
peers and mentors when they perform. They have raised awareness in our
own community about special needs children that they are talented and
polite. The Ensemble students have become McQuade's best ambassadors.
Our Ensemble students conduct percussion workshops in other schools with
peer-aged classes, and are repeatedly asked to perform in our community.
Therapeutic Residential Program
Special needs children undergoing severe difficulties
at home, in school, or in their community can be referred to live in our
New Windsor campus Therapeutic Residential Program. The Therapeutic Residential
Program provides clinical, educational, recreational, and medical services
to boys struggling to overcome problems such as Conduct Disorder, Oppositional
Defiant Disorder (ODD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
and conditions associated with abuse & neglect.
The children receive round-the-clock care, counseling and supervision, attend our Kaplan School for Special Education, participate in intensive individual, group, and family therapy to help them reshape their priorities. The goal is to enable these children, when possible, to successfully return to their own families and schools.
Ages: 7-17
Gender: Male
Program Capacity: 44 boys
Living Units Capacity: 8-12 boys
Length of Stay: 9-12 months
Location: 22-acre suburban campus, New
Windsor, NY. Clients are from the greater Hudson Valley region.
Psychiatric Diagnoses: Conduct Disorder,
Oppositional Defiant Disorder, (ODD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD) and conditions associated with abuse & neglect
Supervision: 24/7 awake staff
Therapy: Multi-disciplinary team approach
includes family, community, school and therapy. Each child's Treatment
Team sets achievable short and long-term goals for him. Behavior modification
and coping skills are emphasized. Periodic home visits.
Community Based Preventive Programs
Across Orange County McQuade offers four Community
Based Preventive Programs. Caseworkers travel to clients who are still
living in their own homes and attending their own schools.
Family Preservation Program
Location: Caseworkers based in Newburgh,
clients throughout Orange County
Age Range: Parents and children of all
ages
Program: Counsels at-risk parents to
create safe, nurturing homes
Goal: Keep families together while safeguarding
children
Treatment: Parents at high risk of abuse
or neglect of their children or having interpersonal problems themselves
receive guidance, crisis counseling, and supervision from a McQuade caseworker
to overcome their difficulties. McQuade's caseworkers help parent's access
community resources, improve parenting skills and maintain safe, nurturing
homes for their children and themselves.
Program Length: 1 to 1 .5 years
Referrals Sources: Orange County Family
Court and Orange County Child Protective Services
Independent Living Skills Program
Location: Caseworkers based in Newburgh,
clients throughout Orange County
Age Range: 14-21
Profile of Children Served: Teenagers
whose childhood's have included living in a succession of homes including
relatives, foster parents and in other placements have most likely not
acquired adequate independent living skills to live successfully on their
own as adults.
Program: The Program teaches independent
living skills to teens who cannot return to their families and are living
in foster homes
Goal: Teach foster children how to be
self-sufficient
Treatment: McQuade caseworkers involve
the teens in hands-on experience with money management, nutrition, apartment
and job-hunting, with the goal of helping them to become self-sufficient.
Services include frequent counseling by a caseworker, group instruction,
and regular interaction with foster parents, biological parents, and school
guidance counselors.
Program Length: At the age of 18, the
teen can sign out of the program, but if they can stay until they are
21, as long as they are in school or employed
School: All teens attend school and are
encouraged to further education, workforce or military service
Referral Source: Orange County: Department
of Social Services
Placement Diversion Program (CRYPS)
Location: Caseworkers based in Newburgh,
Clients throughout Orange County
Profile of Children Served: Excessive
truancy, acting out behavior at home, school and community, youth returning
home from residential placement or hospitalization. The child and their
parents must express a willingness to cooperate with caseworker and meet
program requirements. The child must exhibit a desire to amend behavior.
Parents must express a desire to have their child remain in the home,
as opposed to wanting him/her in placement.
Age Range: 9-16
Program: Intensive counseling and case
management to re-focus troubled youth who still live at home with their
families and are enrolled in public, private, or special education schools,
but are at risk of being placed in a residential treatment program.
Goal: To prevent placement or re-placement
of the child in a residential facility and instead keep children together
at home with their families. This program has an 85% success rate.
Treatment: Crisis counseling, liaison with community, courts (if involved),
school, family, the teen and the referring agency. The caseworker is involved
daily, on call 24 hours a day and provides intensive counseling twice
weekly. This community-based program advocates for the well being of each
child, promotes individual and cultural identity and is child-centered
and family focused.
Program Length: 6 months
Referrals Sources: Orange County: Department
of Social Services (Preventive, Child Protective Services, Intake Unit),
Probation Department, Family Keys, and Family Court
PINS Plus
Location: Caseworkers based in Newburgh,
Clients throughout Orange County
Profile of Children Served: Adjudicated
PINS (Person In Need of Supervision) due to serious difficulty in school
or in the community. Youth must express a willingness to cooperate with
caseworker and program requirements. Youth must exhibit a desire to amend
behavior. Parents must express a desire to have their child remain in
the home, as opposed to wanting him/her in placement. Parents must be
willing to cooperate with the caseworker and program requirements.
Age Range: 16-18
Program: Intensive counseling and case
management to re-focus troubled youth who still live at home with their
families and enrolled in public, private, or special education schools,
but are at risk of being placed in a residential treatment program.
Treatment: While he/she lives at home
and attends school, each PINS Plus teenager has his/her own caseworker
who is involved daily, provides intensive counseling twice weekly, collateral
contacts with the school, probation, counseling and other service providers,
24-hour on-call crisis intervention, hands-on monthly independent living
workshops and monthly parent meetings to foster communication and understanding
between the youth and his/her parents, round out the program. This community-based
program advocates for the well being of each child, promotes individual
and cultural identity and is child-centered and family focused.
Goal: To prevent placement or re-placement
of the child in a residential facility and instead keep children together
at home with their families. This program has an 85% success rate
Program Length: Depends on the needs
of the child and parent
Referral Sources: Orange County: Department
of Social Services (Preventive, Child Protective Services, Intake Unit),
Probation Department, School Districts, Family Keys, and Family Court
Emergency Diagnostic Assessment Center
The Emergency Diagnostic Assessment Centers of McQuade
Children's Services address the needs of 25 children whom are in need
of short-term emergency residential placement, supportive services, and/or
diagnosis/recommendation for further treatment.
Location: McQuade maintains two shelters: one in Newburgh and one in Middletown. McQuade's Newburgh Emergency Shelter is the only shelter on the eastern side of Orange County serving children in need of emergency residential placement and diagnosis. The Shelters yearly occupancy rate of over 90% demonstrates the need for its services.
Profile of Children Served: The children who are served by the shelters have some degree of behavioral or emotional problems, many have experienced abuse and/or neglect, a history of chronic problems in the community or other placements, are juvenile delinquents, are Persons in Need of Supervision (PINS), and/or are experiencing a residential crisis in their home environment. The shelter is NOT equipped to accept children who are severely handicapped or severely mentally retarded, require hospital or psychiatric placements, and/or require secure detention.
Gender: Boy & Girls
Age Range: 8-18 years old
Goal: To give children a safe environment, the opportunity to stabilize, and high quality treatment and care. To give our referral sources an immediately available short-term care option, and a comprehensive assessment featuring realistic recommendations.
The Shelter's structured program
includes the following comprehensive services:
* Immediate admission available 24 hrs/day, 7 days/week with a centralized
intake (one call)
* 24-hour awake staff
* Weekly psychiatric consultation
* Medication management
* Basic medical care with medication management
* Social work services including individual, group and family counseling
* Behavior modification milieu
* Crisis intervention
* Routine case review
* Average length of stay - 45 days
* Formal classroom instruction by a certified special education teacher
* Varied in-house and community recreational activities
* Supportive atmosphere of accountability and responsibility, which motivates
each child toward positive change.
Written Assessment
Within 30 days of each child's entry to the shelter, a treatment team
compiles a comprehensive assessment including psychological, psychiatric,
psychosocial, behavioral, substance abuse, and educational evaluations,
a summary of the needs of the child and recommendations for follow-up
services. A representative from the referring agency is invited to meet
with the team to discuss the recommended strategy for the child's future.
Referral Sources: Regional Departments of Social Services or Family Courts generally refer children.
Community Based Therapeutic Group Homes
Teens aged 13-21 without viable family resources can
live in our Cornwall (8 girls) or Washingtonville (8 boys) group homes,
receive therapy, and gain independent living skills until they graduate
from public high school. The hometown atmosphere enables the residents
to make a fresh start in a safe, supportive environment. Therapeutic support
from a MSW social worker and round-the-clock supervision by childcare
staff complement each youth's behavior modification program.
All residents attend public school, and are encouraged to become involved with after-school, church and community activities. Opportunities for vocational apprenticeships and part time jobs are emphasized by McQuade, as is the importance of learning independent living skills. College scholarships are also available to qualified residents. Group Home residents usually live at the group home for an average of 22 months.
In recent years, youth in our Group Homes have made the Honor Roll, attended the prom, participated in sports teams and ROTC, graduated from High School and gone on to College.
Recreational
Program
All
children in McQuade's programs take part in McQuade's Recreational Program.
Children entering McQuade have been placed into an environment unknown to them.
During this time, recreation helps the children reduce depression, stress, and
anxiety, builds their confidence, allows them to socialize, and reduces the
effects of their crisis. Because these children's lives have been
a collage of uniformly negative experiences, they don't strive, they just accept.
For our staff, breaking through, gaining trust, personally empowering them to
take responsibility is at the core of McQuade's work. To
this end, recreation, vital to the human spirit, has proven to be remarkably
effective, providing a positive outlet for energy and a way to learn life skills.
Participation in community sports, cultural, religious and recreational activities,
as well as development of hobbies and vocational skills round out each
child's behavior modification program. Physical education, sports, field day,
the visual arts, music, cooking, science programs, therapeutic horseback riding
and many other activities are encouraged.
To the world you may be one person, to one person you may be the world.
McQuade Mentoring Program History
When Kathy Frommer, President and CEO of CRS Retail Systems, Inc. in Newburgh,
New York, received the 2001 Dr. Milton Ash McQuade Corporate Inspiration
Award for her encouragement of company-wide charitable giving, she shared
the dais with Matilda Cuomo, founder of the Mentoring USA program. That
night Kathy Frommer started working on a mission conceived that evening:
a plan to involve her CRS employees as mentors for McQuade Children's
Services.
In November of 2002, the McQuade Mentoring Program was initiated and has thrived thanks to the help, guidance, and vision of founder Carol Soladay.
What is a mentor?
Mentors are not teachers or friends or substitute parents. They are not
psychologists or police. They become, basically, the only consistent caring
non professional in the life of a child living at McQuade Children's Services.
Mentors make a minimum commitment of at least one year to build a relationship with their mentee, under the guidance and supervision of McQuade staff. McQuade attempts to match the personality of the prospective mentor with that of the child.
Mentors first visit with the child on campus. After six months, permission may be granted for activities off-campus, such as going to the movies, a park, fishing, or a ball game.
A commitment of one hour at the same time every week is the main requirement. It is vital that mentees can depend on seeing their mentor regularly, every week. Building trust is important.
What is a mentee?
Mentees are residential students, ages 8 to 17, at our New Windsor campus
and group homes in Cornwall and Washingtonville. Each boy and girl in
the program is coping with challenging personal issues such as family,
academic, and emotional difficulties.
How do I become a mentor?
* Check with your company's Human Resources Department to see if you are
a McQuade Mentoring partner.
* Attend a Lunch and Learn, where you will meet mentors and the mentoring
coordinator from McQuade.
* Apply with your company mentoring coordinator. If you fit your company's
criteria for participation, you will apply, interview with McQuade, and
complete a background check and fingerprinting.
* McQuade will then match you with a child and you will start mentoring.
Will I receive training?
McQuade conducts orientation and continuing hands-on training throughout
the mentoring relationship. Every six weeks, company partners host a Lunch
and Learn, which lasts 1 to 1 ½ hours. We update all mentors on
new happenings at McQuade, go over issues mentors may be encountering
with their mentees, and talk about the program.
Guest presenters provide insight to emotionally disturbed children in general and tools to help in all aspects of the role of mentors. We suggest prospective mentors attend a Lunch and Learn to get better acquainted with the program before joining.
When do I mentor?
Your employer has made arrangements for mentors to stay on the clock while
mentoring. This means you are able to leave work in time to visit with
your mentee at McQuade one day a week from 4 to 5pm. (No mentoring on
Fridays or weekends).
Anything else?
Yes!
All mentors are invited to events at McQuade during the year.
* Open Houses at Kaplan School
* Moving Up Ceremony in June
* Holiday Parties
* Mentor Appreciation Dinner
Please contact Katherine Keating at 561-0436 ext. 157 for more information regarding Mentoring.
Current Mentoring Partners:
Epicor/CRS Retail Systems of Newburgh, NY
AST Applied Systems Technology of Cornwall, NY
Arthur Lauer Fine
Teak Furniture of Gardiner, NY
