Emergency Shelter for Children

Providing Safe Emergency Shelter for Children

Love2 Care is an emergency home for children under regulation PA.55 code 3800. We have full service residential living quarters to provide a home for children with love in its care.

Our home in Upper Darby has been approved by Upper Darby Township for a capacity of up to 30 beds. We will accommodate children ages ranging from Birth to 11 years old. There are other group homes that will provide this to children 12 years and older. On occasion we can accommodate children 12 years and older if they are part of a sibling group as our goal is to keep siblings together.

All children will receive a medical evaluation within 14 days of intake and no longer than 30 days. Based on their age they will continue to receive routine checkups every 6 weeks to once a year. Love2 Care utilizes the CHOP care networks.

At the Love2 Care Home

The children will be grouped in bedrooms by age and gender. There is an infant/young toddler room called the nursery hub. This hub is set up with cribs, swings, seats, and diapering table. We also have safety gates that can be used when infants are in other areas of the house. There is a mini refrigerator to keep baby food supplies separate and a host of seats and bouncers throughout for the infants to enjoy.

On this floor you will also find our family living room. This room is equipped for hanging out in as there is a television and sofa, throw pillows and additional seating for infants. There's also a kitchen, utility/supply closet and our Dining Den.

The Dining Den is where the children will sit down and enjoy cooked meals the house staff will be responsible for preparing at scheduled feeding times. There is a large table with chairs, a couple small tables with chairs and highchairs for the infants.

There is a welcoming foyer with a coat closet and a desk. There are 4 doorways to evacuate this floor. In addition, there is an office and 2 bathrooms. The office will be for the administrator and hold all confidential files for the children as well as staff files.

The older toddlers/preschool will live in character themed rooms on the 2nd floor. There are 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms with showers, tub, diaper changer, and small library also on this floor. There is a desk and chair for staff at night to be close to monitor sleeping children.

Children older than 5 years will occupy the LED lighted 3^rd floor quarters. These rooms are decorated with bunkbeds, a mixture of positive affirmations and characters they may be familiar with.

In the basement is the children's playroom where they can enjoy tv, toys, books, etc. This is also where the Love Closet is. New and gently used clothing, shoes, toys, and books can be taken by the children into their possession to keep even after they leave.

Love2 Care has 2 fenced playground areas and plenty of outside yard space for the children to enjoy outdoor play.

Love2 Care Emergency Shelter Safety Precautions

At Love 2 Care we have a fire and burglar alarm system that will call right into the fire department. There are pull stations throughout, smoke detectors and alarmed doors. There are cameras throughout the building covering all rooms, hallways, and stairwells. There are also cameras on the outside covering the grounds and play areas.

The nursery room is located on the 1st floor next to the office, making it easily accessible to evacuate the infants if ever there is an emergency. We have an evacuation crib that will hold up to 300 pounds.

There is a fire evacuation stairwell that leads from the 3rd floor to the 1st floor.

There is an emergency exit door from the basement.

We Are Available 24 Hours a Day 7 Days a Week 

We will have around the clock shift staff to care for the children. All staff will be supervising a group of children, preferably the same group every day.  Children will never be unattended or without adult supervision at any given time.

Staff will have weekly group meetings to discuss the children in their groups. We are always improving to meet the expectations set for the children we service in the home. All staff must be experienced with children in some aspect. Some staff are certified, degreed, and some may only have experience.

Staff will be assigned groups to oversee and have primary care responsibilities for those they are assigned to. They will take notes, log, and give reports, if there are any incidents, concerns, new behaviors, they will be documented, and reported to supervisor immediately, less serious will be before end of the shift.

Staff Requirements

Owner, Director and supervising staff will train in trauma, treatment and restraints. Staff will be trained in many areas such as: emergency plan, supervision, grievance policy, civil rights policy, documentation of complaints, positive discipline procedures, child progress reports, incidents and reports, monitoring sleep rounds and shaken baby syndrome policy, CPR, first aid, fire safety, medication administration, addressing foreign behaviors, sanitation, allergies, intake procedure, exit procedure, personal care/ residential care consisting of diapering, bathing, bathing schedules, mouth hygiene, haircare, skincare. Meal prep, meal patterns, meal schedules, and laundry schedules.

Training will happen prior to hiring and annually. Documentation of these trainings will be in staff files and periodically reviewed if issues arise that needs addressing.

Staff will receive a handbook of the policies and company protocols.

After we receive the Certificate of Compliance will start in agreements with the county’s agencies of children, youth, and family service to receive the children in need of what we have. Children in need of a home for 1 day and up to 180 days. We will see that every child in our home has a health assessment, dental evaluation within 30 days of intake. We will be meeting the immediate needs of any child we accept.

School aged children enrolled in school, we will assist with transportation to and from schools within a reasonable distance of our home we will see that they are attending school and working towards the educational expectation.  Assistance with homework, studying and school projects will be the responsibility of the assigned staff for that child. We would like to partner with local preschools so that our preschoolers can engage with others and take advantage of a program that will help socialization. This is important for children 3-5 years old.  Additionally, we will also have daily early learning groups for the infants and toddlers in the mornings Monday-Friday. The assigned staff will be responsible for this. 

Our house Staff will have experience with a loving heart and passion for this type of responsibility.

Our group meeting will help us in creating plans for the children that will make the time spent conducive and memorable. Although their stay with us can be very temporary our goal is to provide the most comfortable environment with genuine love that they can appreciate. We plan to have a social worker within our team in our agency to work with the foster care children who will come into our home. We will support the state, county, and the family court to meet the desired goals set for the children.

Our home staff will transport and supervise visits with parents. The administrative staff will keep inventory records of the children’s personal belongings and see that everything they need is being provided for them. Our home staff along with the children will have monthly safety drill to make sure the housing staff and the children are aware of the emergency plans. These drills will also happen every time a new child is added to the home.

There will be weekly groups with the staff and children to make sure that there are planned activities and outings in place for entertainment for children.  There will be introduced chores for the children who are able to do to learn basic skills to learn responsibility, children will earn allowance, behaviors are monitored, and observations are be documented. There will be shift reports from supervisors for written communication.

All staff will be criminally cleared and meet the regulation expectation. Based on their qualification, they will be assigned the group of children to make a good fit. All staff will be trained in all trainings listed above prior to start date. All staff will be trained in residential care. Our team's ultimate focus is to protect the health and safety and wellbeing of all children who enters our home.