Nonprofit's Expansion Serves Children Who Are Almost Home

Being away from home and family at the holidays can be tough.

For some children who are receiving much needed medical care spending time away from home is often a necessity regardless of the time of year. Feeling like they are in a home-like setting can make the time away more bearable.

One Naperville-based organization tries to make children with medical needs feel as comfortable as possible in an almost home environment as they begin the transition that will take them back home to their families. 

Almost Home Kids provides transitional care in a home-like setting for children with special health needs that require time to prepare a home and respite care for children who may require 24-hour care. Last month, the nonprofit celebrated the expansion of its Naperville home as it added two rooms to its existing 10-bed home.

The nonprofit serves children from infants to 22 years old, said Raeann Olsen-Jackson, Almost Home Kids chief development officer. Typically a child will be in the transitional facility about 120 days.

“It takes that long [120 days] for families to set up nursing care in their home, make modifications to their home and for the family members to be trained on how to operate the child’s [medical] equipment and to learn how to administer complex medications,” Olsen-Jackson said.  “A lot of teaching goes on at Almost Home Kids.”

For other families, the Respite Care Program provides children with a comfortable place to stay with access to nurses, while their families tend to other personal matters, for example caring for another child, making a college visit or undergoing surgery.

Children who stay at Almost Home Kids come to from all over Illinois, she said. The nonprofit has served families from 15 counties.  Some of the patients are from nearby communities, while others more recently have been from communities farther away, like Peoria and Rockford.

The nonprofit began operating in Naperville in 1999 and since that time has helped more than 720 children facing medical challenges, according to Almost Home Kids.

In the last two years Almost Home Kids has been forced to turn away more than 50 families because it did not have enough beds, Olsen-Jackson said.

“Advancements in medical technology are increasing the life span of children who are medically fragile,” she said. “They are living longer and families want to raise the children at home rather than put them in an institution. Again, the training is a critical piece for the parents, which allows children to go home and be part of their community.”  

While the nonprofit was forced to turn away families because of space, it never turns away families for an inability to pay, she said. Three out of four of children at Almost Home Kids come from families living at or below the federal poverty line.

A grant of $4,000 from The Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley helped defer the cost of furnishing the two rooms in the home.

“We are looking forward to the opportunity to serve more children and families,” Olsen-Jackson said. “This expansion will allow us to share our mission and change more children’s lives for the better.”