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Mission
The mission of the Youth Service Bureau is to divert youth from the juvenile justice and/or child welfare systems by providing access to needed comprehensive community based services aimed a prevention, diversion, or treatment.

The Youth Service Bureau's mission also includes serving the needs of the homeless adolescent population.  These needs are met by providing safe, transitional shelter and independent living skills to this population.


Agency Overview
At times, efforts needed to reunite families require intensive intervention in order to help family members learn new, more productive ways of relating to one another and strategies for managing their lives.  If reunification is not an option, agency staff can assist the youth in learning basic life skills such as completing school, finding a job, and keeping healthy.

Services to youth include outreach, crisis intervention, stabilization, emergency shelter, and long-term support and aftercare.  The Youth Service Bureau's programs are individualized based on need and are flexible, comprehensive, responsive, have a family focus (where appropriate) and sets high standards of quality and good management.  These services are supported by the Youth Service Bureau's extensive years of experience since 1977.

In 2010, the Youth Service Bureau provided services to 3,945 youth and their family members.  The services provided are proven to be effective in keeping families together and over 92% of the cases opened had a positive conclusion at closing.

The Youth Service Bureau is a licensed child welfare agency that provides services to youth and their family members in the five counties of Sangamon, Christian, Mason, Menard, and Logan Counties.  The Youth Service Bureau is also a certified United Way agency.