GATEWAYS for Youth and Families is located in Pierce County, Washington. It provides comprehensive services to children in need with the same pioneering spirit, innovation and common-sense solutions the community has depended upon since 1890. We existed as a local chapter of the Federation of Women's Clubs for many years.

That's when our Founding Mothers first incorporated the organization as the Lend A Hand League and dedicated the organization to improving the lives of homeless young women, with or without children. A generation later, the organization had already changed with the needs of the times and the focus expanded from homeless young women to including all disadvantaged families and ill-treated children in the area.

The name was changed to one most widely known to the hundreds of washington leaders in the field of social services who came through our doors as employees and were trained as social workers, nurses, counselors, sociologists, teachers, attorneys, administrators, psychiatrists, news reporters and public policy makers. We became known as the Children's Industrial Home, and our history is the history of child welfare services in the State of Washington.

Over the course of six generations of service to the community, we continued to expand our programs to aid impoverished and struggling families, homeless children and young people trying to break the cycle of abuse, neglect and poverty. We added the Jessie Dyslin Ranch and dedicated the Ranch property to helping young people become wise and prosperous adults. A week does not go by that one of our clients or former employees doesn't contact us to find out how we're doing these days and whether young people and families still find help on our doorstep, learning the lessons of self-reliance, personal responsibility and community service that we still hold as our core values.

Please contact our program offices or the administrative offices of GATEWAYS for Youth and Families at 253.383.4361 to volunteer, become a member or learn more about our programs for children and families.

Check out our friends and partners, the Gateways Foundation, the Foster Parents Association of Washington State, Night of 1000 Dreams, and the National Foster Parent Association.

Contact information for the Gateways Foundation may be found on their website www.wannabgreen.biz - the Foundation Please contact the Gateways Foundation and learn more about ways they work with the community to generate funding to underwrite the GATEWAYS mission.