Parenting With Intent

Parenting With Intent (PWI) was founded in 2011 and has grown rapidly into a thriving non-profit that works alongside youth and families involved with the Oregon Department of Human Services, Child Welfare Division in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties. Our primary goal is to build safe, trusting, and collaborative relationships in order to influence positive change and keep each youth’s voice centered in all aspects of our service.  Our aim is to remove barriers to optimal family health and to reduce the traumatic effects of foster care.  Our approach is to equip each of our youth and families with the tools and confidence they need to access helpful resources, advocate for their own needs, make positive changes and successfully pursue their aspirations.

Our mission, “Building Strong Connections for Healthy Communities”, is embedded in the belief that healthy relationships are the vehicle through which youth and families are able to grow and thrive. With skillful engagement, we strive to establish trusting and meaningful connections so that every youth we serve can find their voice, advocate for their needs and build the confidence to pursue their aspirations. Our work with youth and families is intentional, relationship based, and driven by our four guiding principles.  These are: that each person involved in our programs learns to identify an authentic sense of self, develop and sustain healthy relationships, recognize and participate in safe communities and ultimately to live their lives with intention. We approach every day with these principles as the core of what we do.

In 2017, PWI launched our signature Youth Empowerment Services (YES!) program to address the systemic lack of stable adult support available for youth involved in Oregon’s child welfare programs. The YES! program provides individual, long-term professional mentorship, foster placement support, and stabilization to youth in foster care.  Since the launch of the program,  YES! has grown to become the largest mentorship program in Oregon among those funded by the Department of Human Services. Today, we employ 37 full-time professional mentors who each work with an average of 7 youth at a time, seeing them at least once a week. Our program also provides opportunities for youth to receive education support, career-readiness skills and participate in a broad array of identity-specific and interest-based group activities.