Community homes as hospital alternatives for youth in crisis.

The youth alternative home network is built on trust and open communication between sponsors, therapist, and home coordinators. The therapist's primary concern is to th client, while the home coordinator, although concerned with the client's treatment, focused mainly on the sponsor's needs and responses. This unique model of integrating youth foster homes into a community mental health center provides clients with a needed noninstitutional evaluation and treatment option. It also may assist youths in acquiring skills needed for emancipation and independent living. Hopefully, other community mental health programs will explore prehospital family alternatives within their own clinical services and communities as an additional avenue of treatment for children and adolescents.