The Williams Life Center, Inc. (WLC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation established in 1998 for the expressed purpose of serving youth and families in the Washington Metropolitan area. WLC has its’ roots in the firm belief that children and families have the opportunity to receive services and supports in the home and community-based settings, regardless of the complexity of their conditions, the level of their disabilities, or the challenges of their behaviors. The programs are highly structured and specifically designed to assist youth with identifying and building upon their inherent strengths, addressing and resolving issues related to their past, preventing institutionalization, and facilitating a healing process.

The agency is comprised of two separate and distinct programs, a Residential Program and a Child Placement Program.

The Residential Program consists of  two Maryland-based group homes, one in Forestville and one in Temple Hills. In this program, the focus is on assisting the youth in meeting established treatment objectives with the aim of improving emotional stability, behavior, social skills, academic achievement, and family relationships in order to transition the youth to a less restrictive setting. This program is very intense and utilizes a therapeutic approach in assisting the youth to meet their goals. The Residential Program is designed to provide young men with the opportunity to emulate positive and productive men, that work together to reach personal goals, and live productively in the larger community. The program is geared toward enhancing the spiritual, psychological, educational and social functioning of all residents. WLC operates from a client-centered, strength-based and culturally competent treatment perspective. The goal of the program is to empower young men and prepare them for a greater level of responsibility and self-sufficiency. With this aim, our residents are intricately involved in all facets of their treatment program and intervention. A resident is in essence a part of the treatment team. Goals are not developed for the residents, but rather with the resident. With this approach, we have found that our residents are more invested in the treatment process and motivated to achieve their goals. We consider the Williams Life Center to be a “home” for young men, not a “facility”. Each resident is treated as a member of our family and we encourage bonding, teamwork and cohesiveness through our service provisions designed not only to help each individual, but rather the entire WLC family.

Our Child Placement Program was established in 2005 due to the dire need in the State of Maryland for foster homes equipped with highly trained parents to foster “challenging teenagers.” WLC responded to this need, and established a treatment foster care program for children ages 0-21, with an emphasis placed on intensive parent training and close foster home and child supervision. We believe that our program is unique in that our services are holistic, family centered, and multi-faceted. Like our Residential Program, in our Child Placement Program, WLC continues to provide comprehensive, culturally competent and relevant services to children in the foster care system.