At Villa Santa Maria, we understand our responsibility as being one of building healthy relationships with children who do not trust the care of others. This task begins with one fundamental attitude towards children, "WE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU." This approach extends into every aspect of the child's life here including the residential milieu, school and in therapy.

Villa Santa Maria is a therapeutic community where children learn the fun and satisfaction inherent in healthy relationships with adults. We create a living environment in which every interaction that a child has with an adult is an opportunity for change - where every interaction is a corrective emotional experience. Children who do not trust the care of others are taught through daily living that they will be taken care of. This is accomplished with two rules…and hundreds of expectations.

The first rule states, "We must know where you are at all times." In order to keep children safe, we must always know where they are. A child cannot be outside of an adult's eyesight without explicit permission.

The second rule states, "You have to ask for everything you need or want." We help children learn that by verbalizing their needs, they are more likely to have them met by an adult. Self parentified behaviors, common in children with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), prevent children from learning that their care is an adult's responsibility. This focus provides continuous opportunities for children to discover that the staff at the Villa consistently respond to the child's need at the time.

Beyond these two rules, everything else is negotiable with the exception of closeness. The essence of our treatment model is dependent on the child's relationship with a person as opposed to his or her ability to maneuver and manipulate to an artificial system of points and levels. The limited rules also reinforce to the child that the care giver is the most important tool available to gain trust, independence and permission to participate in the fun opportunities the are ongoing in the community. Finally, limited rules discourage illogical and inconsistent consequences to inappropriate behavior directing confrontations to the genuine issues of feelings and trust.

The average length of stay for children admitted to the Villa is eighteen months. Our experience in working with children suffering with attachment difficulties has taught us that the child spends the first six months of treatment adjusting to the new environment, new people and new expectations. Within the second six months, children begin to trust the care and control that our competent staff provides on a consistent basis. It is within the final six months that most children begin to internalize the trust of care and are more capable of making healthy decisions for themselves.