Youth Served in Independent Living

The Independent Living Program (ILP) of BYS is a supervised apartment-living program for the older adolescent, who is aspiring toward independent community living outside of his/her own family or substitute family structure.

The youth must be 17 years of age or older, and residing in the residential care of BYS immediately prior to his/her entry to the ILP service. Accordingly all youths entering this program are well known to BYS, and all have established working relationships with BYS service personnel that is considered to be both positive and manageable. Youths entering the ILP program must demonstrate personal responsibility values and skills, which are of a quality commensurate with generally held standards for community living, management of self, and respect for others.

Accordingly, the ILP program is not a point of entry for any youth newly coming into BYS' service, but rather is a structure for carefully planned 'stepping out' from a BYS residential care program into supervised community apartment-living. ILP program placement may be in combination with a youth's college or other continuing education, or in association with his/her community employment. In all cases it is highly individualized for each participant's personal needs, capabilities and readiness for self-reliance.