20th Anniversary Article

By: Jodi Duttenhefer

1994.  20 years ago.  Some of the events from that year will be forever remembered….
*North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect.
*Nancy Kerrigan is attacked by Tonya Harding’s bodyguard.
*Former President Richard Nixon dies.
*Nelson Mandela becomes 1st black president in South Africa.
        *OJ Simpson is arrested for murdering his wife and another man after a car chase that was televised live.

Here in North Dakota, in 1994, PATH was born!  A minor event compared to some of those mentioned above, but a major event in the lives of thousands of youth over the last 20 years.  In 1994, PATH ND had 26 youth in care. For the year ending June 30, 2013, PATH served just over 1300 youth from North Dakota across all of its programs!  As of that same date, PATH had 420 foster homes totaling 673 individual foster parents.

 PATH is a private non-profit child and family services agency. The agency has roots starting in 1972 in Minnesota, extending into North Dakota in 1994 when it blended with the North Dakota Therapeutic Foster Care program. The organization is governed by a board of directors, which includes members of the professional community as well as elected PATH foster parents. On July 1, 2011, PATH ND, Inc. became the governing entity over all PATH programs and corporations.
The mission statement of PATH is “Families Making the Difference.”

PATH is licensed as a child placing agency by the North Dakota Department of Human Services, and accredited by the Council on Accreditation for Services to Children and Families (COA).
PATH has grown and developed an array of family services with its two largest being Treatment Foster Care (TFC) and Family Support and Family Based Services (FS).  PATH continues to search for other areas in the nation where our agency resources may assist in service provision relevant to any individual state service area. PATH is uniquely structured to offer corporate supports and services where ever they may be needed.

Since its inception, PATH ND has sought to serve children in the least restrictive setting possible, while still bringing the needed services to the child. Our programs are designed to provide extra supports and foster parent training to allow children and youth with treatment needs to have the security and normalcy of a family home, while receiving the services to help them address personal challenges and difficult family backgrounds.

PATH currently has offices in Fargo, Grand Forks, Jamestown, Devils Lake, Belcourt, Bismarck, Dickinson, Minot, and Williston.  Out of those nine offices, PATH is able to serve the entire state of North Dakota.

The outcomes for these youth are nothing short of amazing.  73% of the youth in PATH leaving Treatment Foster Care are returned to less restrictive settings.  This is above the national average.
While PATH is doing an excellent job serving youth, there are still youth from across the state that PATH is not able to serve, largely due to the need for more foster homes.  These youth are remaining in residential care facilities until homes open, or they are being sent out of state, meaning they are away from their families and home communities.

Our area continues to have a huge need for people to provide this service to children and families in our area.  We encourage all adults age 21 and older to consider becoming foster parents and take the time to think about if this is an option for them.  You do not have to own your own home, be married, or have your own children to provide foster care.  There is no age limit on foster parents and children can benefit from foster parents of all ages.  While full-time foster parents are very much needed we are also in need of foster parents to provide respite care, these foster parents provide care on a part time basis to other foster families who may need a break, be going out of town, or who are attending training.

Finally, we would like to send out a huge THANK YOU to those people who are foster parents!  May is Foster Care Month so we encourage all of you to thank those foster parents in your communities.

If you have room in your heart and home please consider providing foster care to these youth. PATH can be contacted at 877-766-PATH.  Thank you for considering this much needed service in our community.