About

Homeward House Collaborative is a community-centered partnership in Snohomish County working to keep families safely together. We support parents with young children and expectant parents who are facing substance use disorders, poverty, and related challenges.

When parents experience substance use disorders alongside poverty or homelessness, families may become involved with the child welfare system and face the possibility of separation. Although removal may sometimes be necessary to protect a child’s immediate safety, it can also disrupt attachment, compound trauma, and create long-term consequences for children and parents. Early, coordinated, family-centered support can help prevent unnecessary separation and create a safer path toward stability and reunification.

To protect the privacy and dignity of the families we serve, photos of people are stock images intended to be representative of the people we support.

Guided by a steering committee of community partners — with YWCA Seattle | King | Snohomish as lead agency — the Collaborative brings together expertise from housing, behavioral health, early childhood education, peer support, and legal advocacy under one coordinated approach. At the heart of the team are Parent Ally Mentors: certified peer counselors who had navigated similar challenges themselves. The posts below tell the story: how it started, how it worked, and what we learned along the way.

A note on where we are now: Homeward House has paused direct services in Snohomish County while we seek new funding, and we are not able to accept referrals at this time. For help finding support, contact Washington 211.

The model works. More than 80% of families we served stayed together or reunified. Sustaining funding for this kind of work is challenging, and our hope and intention is to secure support to allow services to resume.

Everything we learned lives on in the Homeward House Toolkit, free for any community ready to build its own version.

Who Homeward House Serves

We provide direct services to expectant parents and parents of young children in Snohomish County who are experiencing substance use disorders, poverty, and related hardships such as homelessness or actual or potential involvement with Child Protective Services. Our work is especially focused on preventing the harm caused by family separation, which has disproportionately affected generations of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).

What Homeward House Does

Our mission is to nurture the vital parent-child bond in the face of crisis, treatment and recovery.

We do that by reducing trauma, strengthening protective factors, addressing systemic barriers that disproportionately affect families impacted by poverty, substance use disorders, and involvement in the child welfare system.

We focus on preserving and strengthening the bond between parents and their children so families can recover and stay together whenever possible. Our goal is to help families heal and create healthy and stable foundations for the future.

Our strength lies in building genuine trust with families, coordinating care and support services across multiple agencies, and providing timely and judgment-free support and practical guidance.

We help families build the skills, relationships, and stability they need for long-term success — breaking cycles of trauma and system involvement that can last for generations.

A Comprehensive Approach

Families are paired with parent ally mentors who offer lived-experience guidance and emotional support throughout the journey toward recovery, stability, and reunification. 

The Homeward House Visitation & Resource Center is a cozy, welcoming house where parents temporarily separated from their children can have visits and receive support as they work toward reunification. While not housing, it’s a safe, supportive space where families can make the most of their time together.

With a focus on brain development during infancy, infant mental health services promote emotional well-being, secure parent-child attachment, and positive early experiences that shape long-term outcomes for children. For example, parents learn to read cues, understand their child’s emotional needs, and respond with sensitivity. 

Community partners work hand-in-hand with parent ally mentors to connect families with essential resources such as housing assistance, legal advocacy, and early childhood education.

As program participants, families hold decision authority in setting their own goals, selecting services, and deciding when they are ready to move on from program support. Parents with lived experience also shape the program itself — their perspective is critical in determining what services need to be available to families, and a representative from the parent voice group is an integral part of the Collaborative’s governance and leadership, holding two votes where other members hold one.

In short, lived experience from the community guides the strategy, and families are at the center of daily operations.

“…my parent ally mentor has NEVER judged any situation or anything I’ve said or gone through but only related or help me overcome the dark days. They ar the most supportive support I have.”

— Parent

Why Homeward House Matters

Secure parent-child attachment forms the foundation for healthy emotional and cognitive development while protecting children from long-term trauma. By supporting families through vulnerable periods, we create lasting pathways for healing and growth.

Family separation causes profound trauma and imposes significant costs on communities—emotionally, developmentally, and financially. Research consistently shows that investing in prevention and family support services produces better outcomes at lower costs than foster care placement.

Our work focuses on keeping children safely connected to their parents whenever possible, helping families build the skills, relationships, and stability needed for long-term success. This approach doesn’t just save money—it breaks cycles of trauma and system involvement that can persist for generations.

Decades of research shows that investing in prevention and family support services produces better outcomes at lower costs than foster care placement.

Advisory Committee

Leadership

Other Members

Funders

Homeward House Collaborative would not be possible without the partnership and support from these funders: