History and Vision

In 2005, Louisiana MENTOR began its partnership with the Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) to provide transitional services, including behavior modification and skill development, for youth in the state’s social service system.  In this Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) program, youth live in private family homes where they can receive services, form relationships, participate in everyday family activities, continue their education, be active in the their community and prepare to return home or a lesser restrictive environment.

Louisiana MENTOR quickly established a track record of success for supporting OJJ youth through the TFC model, allowing expansion of programs and the opening of additional offices throughout the state including the Monroe, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Alexandria and Shreveport areas.

As Louisiana MENTOR’s reputation has grown, this has enabled the expansion of services and brought The MENTOR Network’s proven Therapeutic Foster Care model to other state agencies in Louisiana, primarily for youth who were unable to return to their biological families.  As the state continued to move towards more home and community-based service models, Louisiana MENTOR became known as the “go to” agency because of the ability to provide services to youth and adults with complex challenges. Today, Louisiana MENTOR supports youth and adults through partnerships with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities (OCDD) and the Office of Behavioral Health (OBH).

In addition, through the partnership with OCDD, Louisiana MENTOR now provides services for the Residential Options Waiver (ROW) as well as the New Opportunities Waiver (NOW).

Looking ahead, we envision playing an active role in shaping new generations of human services reform.  Our experience as an innovative provider and our partnership with The MENTOR Network offers the opportunity to test new models of care.  Our cutting-edge systems can help document success and explore ways to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency.  And our rich history lends a unique perspective to the policy debates taking shape in our state capital and in Washington, D.C.