A Place for Beginnings — Building the Future —Turning Obstacles into Possibilities

A Brief History

Fihankra Place, Inc. was established July 1, 1997 as a contracted agency with Child And Family Services to provided services to adolescent males 12 to 16 years of age. The group home maintains 95% of its targeted population and surpasses the contract agreement.

Fihankra's ability to anticipate the needs of youth led them to establish the Supervised Independent Living Program with 28 adolescent males and 17 females in September 1998.

In June 1999, when Child and Family Services were perplexed with the number of unplanned pregnancies in teen girls, Fihankra Place established it's own Teen Mothers Program. The Teen Mothers Program teaches parenting skills, nutrition, health care, and money management to 30 teen-ages mothers and their children.

Today, Fihankra place continues to set a higher standard of care for the Wards of the District Colombia

. SILS - Teens Working Together on Computer

The Fihankra Place Philosophy

Teen Mother with Child It is the mission of Fihankra Places' Supervised Independent Living Service (SILS) to assist young people toward independence. Young people face a complex world where broken homes, low structure and negative influences steer their decisions.

The transition to independence is commonly frightening for most adolescents. The Fihankra~SILS program provides "real life" exposure by providing a positive environment where experiences and formal training build the skills associated with adulthood, while understanding that it usually takes time for their emotional development to catch up with their chronological age. Youth are knowledgeable based upon their experiences and need positive motivation to grow, and our program described within emphasizes their individual concerns.

The symbol Fihankra was derived from a symbolic language of Adinkra from the West African country Ghana. Fihankra means...Safe place, Safe home or fenced home. Fihankra is a symbol of security and safety.