Over the past two centuries, child welfare has shifted dramatically – from institutional orphanages in the 1800s to residential treatment facilities and, eventually, to the more family-like setting of foster care. Today, the field is focused on keeping families together, recognizing the importance of preserving familial bonds and strengthening family units.
To remain relevant in this evolving landscape, human services organizations like Pittsburgh-based Pressley Ridge must continually adapt. Founded nearly 200 years ago as an orphanage, Pressley Ridge is now a national leader in child welfare and among the top non-profit organizations in Pittsburgh. They operate over 70 programs across seven states and serve vulnerable children and families through a wide range of services.
In 2024, thanks to a generous gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, Pressley Ridge launched a transformative five-year strategic plan that focuses on growing services to meet the ever-changing needs of families and prepares the organization for future innovation.
The plan reflects a commitment to building a responsive, inclusive system that keeps families intact and helps children thrive within their communities. To preserve the organization’s legacy of success, Pressley Ridge is committed to continuously assessing their broad portfolio of programs for impact and relevancy while investing in infrastructure that includes advancing systems, technology and processes to strengthen efficiency, resilience and long-term sustainability.
“We recognize that for all children to thrive, our impact must extend far beyond the current scope of Pressley Ridge programs and services,” said President and CEO Susanne Cole. “This strategic plan allows us to educate, advocate and champion initiatives that enhance the system of care for all children, youth and families.”
A key initiative is expanding access to high-quality family preservation services. Pressley Ridge now operates 21 programs focused on keeping families together, including family-based therapy and short-term in-home crisis support. The organization recently introduced the nationally recognized Family Centered Treatment model. Family Centered Treatment (FCT) is an evidence-based and well-supported trauma treatment model of home-based family therapy. Pressley Ridge has plans to expand this service in Ohio, Texas, Virginia and other states within their footprint, as well as new geographic areas.
When children cannot safely remain at home, the leaders at Pressley Ridge are experts in caring for youth with complex behavioral health needs, particularly within the foster care system. The agency is recognized for developing one of the nation’s first and most influential treatment foster care models in the early 1980s. Their evidence-based treatment foster care pre-service training curriculum is utilized by 225 agencies in 38 states to train and certify foster parents to support a child’s emotional and developmental needs. This curriculum is also being implemented statewide in Kansas, Colorado and Alaska.
Nearly 50 years of expertise in treatment foster care has proven that children thrive when placed with family or close relatives – known as kinship care – but these grandparents, aunts and uncles still need support when caring for youth who have experienced trauma. Pressley Ridge is actively working to help kinship caregivers become certified, which offers advocacy tools, system navigation support and trauma-informed caregiving resources.
Pressley Ridge is leading kinship care efforts while also developing a training curriculum and model for kinship care aimed at supporting caregiving and outcomes for children. Within the past year, Pressley Ridge has adopted a technology to streamline recruitment and certification of foster parents, and they are currently developing an AI-powered app aligned with the PR-TFC training to provide real-time support for foster and kinship parents.
Pressley Ridge recently expanded into Texas, supporting the state’s shift to a community-based care model. Through the Texas Family Care Network (TFCN) division, the organization manages child welfare services in 15 counties in the deep east region of Texas. This approach emphasizes localized support and community interventions, helping children remain close to home. In its first year of operations, TFCN served over 1,000 youth, with 625 successfully discharged into family care or adoption.
In the past year, Pressley Ridge received a 98% satisfaction score from clients who completed services –reflecting a deep level of trust and effectiveness in the organization’s services. If their strategic plan reaches its full potential by 2029, Pressley Ridge will be a national leader in family preservation and foster care services, positively impacting up to tens of thousands more children and families. This is transformative, not just for those individuals but for entire communities.
This forward-looking plan underscores Pressley Ridge’s commitment to adaptability and innovation. As the child welfare system continues to evolve, the organization aims to lead by example, creating a more equitable, family-centered approach to care that strengthens communities and supports lasting connections.