Therapeutic Riding of Tuscaloosa | Application Preview
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General Information
Business Registration Number: 079685933
Location: Cottondale, AL, United States
Length of Operation: 6-10
Number of Employees: 1-10 Employees
Annual Gross Income: Less than $100k
Annual Gross Expense: Less than $100k
Open to Loans: NO
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Funding Usage
We are in need of money to fund an expansion of our nonprofit program. With additional capital we can add more families to our program. There is a crisis in foster care at this time. These children are underserved in the educational and mental health areas, largely due to the severe restrictions of the Medicaid program in Alabama. We are requesting funds to provide mental health services to foster and adopted children in West Alabama who do not have other resources to pay for treatment
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Business Plan
By having funds to pay additional instructors and therapists, we are able to serve more families in the West Alabama area. By having the added exposure given by the increased ability to serve we hope to grow our donor base. We also hope to be considered by United Way of West Alabama, but in order to be considered we have to have a minimum impact on our community., These funds will allow us to achieve these goals Right now the state has 5,800 children in the foster care system. Alabama’s child welfare agency unnecessarily “segregates” foster youth with mental health problems in a complex of 19 psychiatric institutions, when most could be cared for in the community, according to a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of these children. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division by three nonprofit litigators: Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Children’s Rights. These children are cut off from family and community, without access to their school or to a normal teenage life, denied the chance to play a sport, ride a bike, or sing in the choir — to experience the joys of being a child. Instead, they have been subjected to assaults, restraints, psychologically abusive punishments, and filthy living conditions. This highly clinical setting is overused on foster youth with behavioral issues that do not require institutionalization, and that the state’s array of PRTFs are not safe. It notes “numerous reports of staff at PRTFs slamming children against walls, punching and slapping children in the face, using chokeholds, and laying on top of children who are being held face down on the ground.” Some of these treatment facilities are operated by Sequel, the for-profit company that has come under fire for troubling incidents of abusive behavior at facilities it manages around the country. Since the death of teen Cornelius Fredericks at a Sequel-run facility in Michigan, several states have stopped doing business with the company, and it has been forced to shut down a half-dozen of its residential programs. The Alabama lawsuit alleges that Sequel’s treatment facility in Tuskegee uses a “time-out” room without a toilet or sink to seclude youth for up to 72 hours, and that its Owens Cross Roads facility once held a girl in an isolated room for five straight days. The state could easily handle the care of nearly all of the hundreds of foster youth who end up at PRTFs in foster homes or other community alternatives if outpatient programs were available to treat these youth. DHR’s continued reliance on expensive, institutional placements is an urgent threat to the well-being of these children and youth and wastes taxpayer dollars. TROT can provide evidence based psychological treatment for foster youth and their families, but the Alabama Medicaid system refuses to acknowledge or pay for this treatment. We need funding to provide care. close to one-fifth of the prison population in the US is comprised of former foster children (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2016) and about 70% of youth who exit foster care as legal adults are arrested at least once by age 26 (Courtney et al.Jun 12, 2022). By providing appropriate, evidence based treatment that WORKS we may be able to make an impact on these statistics, lowering the overall costs associated with joblessness, incarceration and long term mental health care.
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Self Identified Competition
Indian Rivers Mental Health Center is the state operated mental health center that receives Medicaid payments. Foster children in Alabama are only covered by Medicaid. They are not eligible for other coverage. Indian Rivers is understaffed and has a 6-8 month waiting list. They do not have a specialized program that is geared toward foster children. Capstone Medical Center, operated by the University of Alabama, also accepts Medicaid payments. They have a shorter waiting list, but treatment is given by students, not licensed professionals, and they do not have a specialized program that is geared toward foster children. The Stable Moments program at TROT is designed to assist kids in foster care and kids who have been adopted deal with the special issues they face. Although there is one other Stable Moments program, located in Birmingham, we are the only program in the area where treatment is supervised by a licensed clinical psychologist. We are the ONLY treatment program in our catchment area that provides specialized treatment geared to addressing issues faced by foster and adopted kids and their families. Any child who is removed from the birth parent has questions. Where did I come from? Why did they give me up? What is wrong with me? Are some of the most common questions these kids have. Without resolution to these questions, these kids can become depressed, angry, and show their feelings through acting out. Children who have been in foster care are 9 TIME MORE LIKELY TO ATTEMPT SUICIDE than kids who have not been in foster care. The rates of depression, anxiety and PTSD in kids that have been adopted or placed in foster care are 80% higher than those of kids in their biological homes. So does that mean that kids should not be in foster care? Of course not. Sometimes the biological family setting is simply not safe for these kids and foster care is a better option. Even so, these kids still are plagued with questions regarding their own identity and self image. Stable Moments is designed to address six important areas of life skills. We address 1. Self worth 2. Responsibility 3. Self regulation 4. Emotional awareness 5. Independence 6. Healthy relationships Empirically tested interventions that involve different activities are used to help each child on their individual journal through these life-skill areas.
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