Philosophy and History

Philosophy

We believe every child deserves a home. At Above the Line we support and aggressively seek every possible solution for the children we serve.

History

Above the Line was started in 1994 by Kimberly Carter to effectively respond to the needs of increasing numbers of at-risk youth in Santa Cruz County, California. Its name reflects the founders’ belief that certain situations, such as teen homelessness, are below the line of acceptability in our community.

Group Home Society was an established group home for girls with a long-standing history for success in Santa Cruz County. Group Home Society provided housing and services to court referred teenaged girls who came through the Child Welfare System.

In August of 2001, these two organizations joined forces to achieve a more efficient, less costly way of providing the same services to at-risk youth within Santa Cruz County. The merger produced the ability to separate literate and non-literate children in our schools and to separate youth by gender when appropriate.

Above the Line transformed into an agency which served at-risk girls, operated an all-girls school in conjunction with the County Office of Education, ran two foster care programs, Homes for Kids and Intensive Treatment Foster Care and opened the Kashtan Educational building on its consolidated campus in Corralitos.

In March of 2009, after 30 years of operating residential programs for teens, Above the Line has closed Kimberly Carter House, its residential program for teens located in Corralitos. In 2001 Above the Line merged with Group Home Society; between the two agencies over 2000 at-risk youth were provided with housing, education, therapy and independent living skills training. Over the past few years the trend has been to keep youth in their homes or in foster homes while providing them with wraparound services to meet their therapeutic needs. As a result of these changes, Above the Line's residential program component is no longer needed. Above the Line is now focusing on expanding Homes for Kids, its foster family agency to meet the growing need for foster homes for children and teens. For further information about Above the Line and Homes for Kids please call: 831-662-9081 x201.

From its modest roots, Above the Line has expanded its services to be an inclusive, full-service agency to at-risk children and youth in Santa Cruz County.