Skills' Children and Youth Program provides safety, protection, and support services in a community home for children and adolescents requiring protective custody in Blair County.
The program's ultimate goal is to reunify the child with his or her family when both are ready. The reunification process includes program supports such as family education, counseling, and structured daily living activities for the children that will help them succeed well into their adult lives.
All services incorporate the core principles of the Child and Adolescent Service System Program (CASSP).

Children and adolescents ages 6 to 18.
Skills welcomes referrals from all counties in Pennsylvania, however, preference will be given to the local Office of Children, Youth and Families in each county where we operate a community home.

Note: While Skills provides a broad range of services to individuals within the mental health and mental retardation (MH/MR) system, its Children & Youth Program was not developed to serve these populations.
This, however, does not exclude children with a diagnosis of MH/MR who need temporary placement.

Temporary four- to six-month stays on average. The children live and receive services in the community home for varying lengths of time depending on their needs, including short-term respite stays.

Currently Skills operates in three community homes (a children's home, youth girls' home, youth boys' home) located in Altoona.

For more information, contact the program's Regional VP .