'Hope House' for foster kids to open in Champaign

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) - An innovative family home alternative is set to open it's doors with the goal of helping teens in foster care transition into adulthood.

Josie Bayona, the Executive Director for Hope Houses, said, "We want them to be able to reach their potential to become young adults, functioning young adults, in society."

The six-bedroom home will house four girls and a foster parent with a therapist and youth care workers available.

"We want every youth to have their own room," Bayona said. "We give them an opportunity to decorate their room as if this is their house. This is their house. I want them to own it, I want them to have ownership and I want them to feel like 'I have a place called home where I am safe and I can come every day.'"

One Hope United already has 9 different Hope Houses up and running in Florida, with five slated to come to Illinois this year. Two will be in Champaign.

"The atmosphere is for them to feel at home," Adrian Perez, the organization's Director of Programs, said. "To be able to take a space and create something that is reflective of their own personalities."

The organization serves children from 13 to 17-years-old in child and family services.

The two houses in Champaign will be open soon.