Local mentoring program outperforms foster care, new clinic to boost support

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MISSOULA, Mont. — Friends of the Children Western Montana is launching a new in-house behavioral clinic in the coming weeks.

The organization currently provides children with a mentor, called a “friend” starting at age 4.

Each friend makes the commitment to mentor the children for 12 years, all the way through high school.

The organization says the program has a higher success rate than foster care -- with 83% of participants earning a high school diploma or GED, 93% staying out of the juvenile justice system and 98% avoiding teen pregnancy.

That’s compared to foster care, where 55% earn a high school diploma or GED, 63% staying out of the juvenile justice system and 86% avoid teen pregnancy.

Friends of the Children Western Montana program director Stacy Houge says giving a child a stable person makes all the difference in their lives.

"One stable safe person in a child's life will make all the difference," Houge said. "They need people that can see them, that have created a safe place, where they can kind of grow like fresh soil."

Each mentor spends four hours daily with a child, with two during school and two afterward.

"Throughout the day, in the school setting, it really depends on the child. We work really closely with the teachers, and they kind of lead us to what the child needs most," Houge said. "After school, the mentor will pick up a child immediately following the school day and maybe take them to the clubhouse or bring them to the carousel. Each child has a roadmap plan where they've identified a goal for themselves," Houge said.

Houge told NBC Montana one child was struggling with panic attacks and was able to get support with breathing through archery.

"One of our mentors was working with youth who was really struggling with kind of that regulation. He was kind of often having some panic attacks when he was trying to calm his breathing and was feeling agitated. One of our mentors, who we call friends, Tyler, took this youth out to the archery range, with that one-on-one supervision we can provide and support. Helped him use that skill of focus, of calm breathing, focused energy to do something that's fun but also a skill that he was really working on. That's the sort of things that we try to look for, something that's fun, kids are going to enjoy, but has a long-term affect on them," Houge says...