About Homeward House Collaborative

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. Through a trauma-informed approach, we offer judgment-free peer mentorship, wrap-around support services, and a welcoming, homelike environment where families can have visitations. Our visitation and resource center also provides access to essential items and services, helping parents meet immediate needs while building stability. 

Below, you’ll find more about our mission, the families we support, the services we provide, and the impact we strive to make every day:

Who We Are ⏐ Who We Serve ⏐What We Do ⏐Why It Matters

Who We Are

Homeward House Collaborative is a unique, multi-agency partnership in Snohomish County that brings together organizations and individual experts to support vulnerable families. Our collaborative model unites partners from housing, behavioral health, early childhood education, peer support, and legal advocacy under one coordinated approach.

At the heart of our team are Parent Ally Mentors—certified peer counselors who have successfully navigated similar challenges and understand our clients’ experiences in a way only someone who has been there can.

Who We Serve

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).

In 2024 we served 355 children and adults within 120 families and provided more than 240 families with essential supplies and connections to community resources.

What We Do

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.

Our comprehensive approach includes:

Judgment-Free Peer Support
Families are paired with Parent Ally Mentors who offer lived-experience guidance and emotional support throughout the journey toward recovery, stability, and reunification.

Enriched Parent-Child Visitations
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.

Wrap-Around Support Services
Community partners work hand-in-hand with Parent Ally Mentors to connect families with essential resources such as housing assistance, behavioral health care, early childhood education, and legal advocacy.

Navigation Guidance
Navigating systems that are meant to provide support can be overwhelming. From getting to appointments to tracking and fulfilling requirements, it’s a lot to manage. Parent Ally Mentors guide families through complex systems, ensuring they can be successful and meeting their goals.

Essential Mental Health Support
Many parents face judgment and isolation due to persistent misconceptions and stigma about substance use disorders. These stigmas often overlap with misunderstandings about mental health. Just like physical health, mental health is shaped by many factors and deserves care and compassion.

Infant mental health services are especially critical. Focused on brain development during this pivotal period, these 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.

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

Homeward House client, 2025

One of the nurseries for family visitations at Homeward House.

I really like the amount of respect I feel like I received (when doing visitations at Homeward House) and I was left to be with my children and not feel like somebody was trying to hover over me or watch everything I did. Sometimes that is a huge barrier and it makes everybody feel uncomfortable. But (at) Homeward House…everybody can feel comfortable and at ease.

Homeward House client, 2025

Why It 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.

 

When families thrive, communities thrive.

That’s the lasting change we work toward every day.

The work of Homeward House Collaborative is on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish Peoples, in particular, the Tulalip, Snohomish, Stillaguamish, and Sauk-Suiattle tribes. We honor the original caretakers of the land they continue to cherish and protect.

We are is dedicated to fostering racial equity. Our Race and Social Justice Statement describes our commitment and the steps we are taking to change the systems and practices that perpetuate inequities.

Join Us!

If you’re interested in joining or partnering with Homeward House Collaborative, please contact us at homewardhouse@ywcaworks.org.

Serving Snohomish County, Washington