home | site map

For 117 years, Helping Hand Home for Children has provided a place to heal for abused, neglected and abandoned children. The Home provides residential treatment services, therapeutic foster care, adoption services, and an on-site charter school for emotionally disturbed children. Helping Hand Home is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization located in Austin, Texas licensed by the State of Texas and governed by the membership of the Helping Hand Society.

The Home is the oldest continuously operating residential childcare agency in Travis County, a priceless resource kept strong and viable through community support.

Our mission is to maintain a therapeutic home for children and to restore each child to a healthy family setting.

Our goal is for the children to take responsibility for their own actions, leave with a sense of worth, improve their academic skills and gain an increased sense of trust.

Residential Treatment Program
The Home's residential treatment component has been designed specifically for forty-one children between the ages of four and thirteen who have experienced severe physical, sexual, and emotional trauma. One of only a few treatment centers in the United States dedicated to serving young children; our services provide a safe and nurturing environment for children who have experienced the darker side of childhood.
Click here to learn more.

Pearson Therapeutic Foster Care and Adoption
The Pearson Therapeutic Foster Care Program was founded in 1995 on the belief that a loving home can save a child. Our foster care program serves children from birth to eighteen years old, some of whom need treatment services but can function successfully in a foster home with specially trained and supported foster parents. HHH is also licensed to perform adoptions. Click here to learn more.

Helping Hand Home/UT Charter School
The Charter School provides on-site specialized education services for up to 24 of the Home's children. The teachers and staff work to develop individual learning strategies for children with significant behavioral and academic challenges.

Executive Director
Ted Keyser

Director of Clinical Services
Ann Adams, LCSW

Human Resources Director
Kelli Bernal, PHR

Director of Child Placement Services
Kristi Duck, LMSW

Director of Residential Services
Chris Janawicz, LCCA

Controller
Cathy Winkelman

Director of Development
Julie Freeman

Board of Directors
Kay Enoch, President
Cynthia Shaw, President Elect
Jeanne Little, Past President
Jane Flieller, Treasurer
Mary Fellows, Recording Secretary
Emily Baker
Suzy Balagia
Carol Crowley
Anne Jarvis
Colleen Lockwood
Nancy McAllister
Laura McBride
Kathy Petet
Joan Talley
Lisa Zodin

Community Advisory Board
Gaylord Armstrong
Paul Bury
Manny Flores
Ron Franklin
Colleen Gardner
Galt Graydon
Melissa Jackson
Ron Lewis
David Lockett
Al Matthews
Rep. Elliott Naishtat
Curtis Osmond
John Pate
Rhonda Paver
Joe Petet
Lane Prickett
Jim Rado
Betty Ray
Pat H. Robertson
Beau Ross
Kathryn Ross
R. Clint Smith
Wallace M. Smith
Berry D. Spears
Jim Spencer
Jim Susman
Mark Thannisch
Jeffrey Trigger
Susan Vincent
Michael J. Vollman
Sam A. Wilson
Neel White
Zeynep Young

View our Audited Combined Financial Statments:

2009

who we are | our history | residential treatment | foster care program | how to help | events | community partners | success stories | employment | contact