Family Services

YFC provides after-school and summer programs where youth are empowered to grow emotionally, socially and academically.   YFC’s unique, multifaceted approach is based on the understanding that all children can grow and build resilience once their individual strengths are maximized and their needs are met. 

The children that the Youth and Family Center of McHenry County’s (YFC) Youth Program serves are at-risk to experience significant challenges emotionally, socially and academically due to the following risk factors.  All of the 210 children in the program last year qualified for free or reduced school lunch.  Less than 1% of the children’s parents finished high school, and 28% only attended elementary school.  Furthermore, 41% of the children have experienced one or more adverse childhood experience, including loss of a parent, physical or sexual abuse, domestic abuse, or homelessness, and half of the middle school youth have experienced 3 or more adverse childhood experiences.  Of the children that have experienced a traumatic event, physical abuse was reported by parents to have occurred in the homes of 28% of the children.  Finally, when the YFC youth´s parents were most recently surveyed about what concerns they had regarding their child, 56% expressed concerns about their child’s social and emotional well-being, and 35% expressed concerns about their child’s academic progress. 

These families experience many barriers that prevent them from accessing and navigating services to mitigate the detrimental effects of their family or life circumstances on their mental and physical health.  Many of YFC’s clients are referred by other organizations for any number of reasons, including when a family has experienced the loss of a family member or when a child shows signs of mental illness.  A unique, multifaceted service delivery model is used to help youth grow academically, socially, and emotionally that focuses on the child and family’s strengths and facilitates collaboration between the parents, children, YFC staff and other community organizations.  Furthermore, YFC is the only youth program in McHenry that is offered year-round to all school age children and the only program that does not charge registration or transportation fees.  

Our Youth Prevention Program goals and outcome measurements are: “increase knowledge and resiliency” and “increase social connectedness”.