Goldie Floberg acquires RocVale Children’s Home from Milestone Inc.

Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Goldie Floberg has reached an agreement to acquire RocVale Children’s Home from Milestone Inc. and expand its services for children with demanding behavioral support needs.

The two nonprofit organizations announced the agreement on Thursday in a joint news release. They said the change will help bolster services for children in our area.

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RocVale Children’s Home, 4450 N. Rockton Ave., provides children with intellectual disabilities and high-behavioral support needs the opportunity to live in a home-like setting while also having the safeguards of a highly trained staff on site.

“We are incredibly proud to announce that Goldie Floberg is expanding services to kids with the greatest needs,” John Pingo, president and CEO of Goldie Floberg, said in a news release. “This is at a crucial time when services for kids with the highest behavioral support needs have the fewest options.”

RocVale is one of five such facilities in the state, according to Milestone. Goldie Floberg will immediately serve five individuals on the campus with the ability to grow to accommodate 25, Pingo said.

“That is an incredible addition of services in a field that is shrinking at an alarming rate across the state,” he said.

RocVale has been a division of Milestone since 2001, but the organization said it could no longer provide the services needed.

“It was our pleasure to continue to provide services to those children. Unfortunately, over the past few years we have seen a steady decline in the number of children we have been able to serve.” Bill Grahn, president and CEO of Milestone, said in a news release. “This has brought upon the very difficult decision to end this chapter in our history and discontinue that service.”

Goldie Floberg’s board of directors approved the acquisition last month.

“As one door closes, another opens and we are thrilled Floberg is able to utilize the RocVale campus and provide these needed services, and we will do what is needed to make sure there is a smooth transition,” Grahn said.

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RocVale opened in 1906 as the Rockford Children’s Home, providing residential services to orphans from northern Illinois. Its mission shifted in 1970 due to growth in the foster care system, and the current campus was built on North Rockton Avenue to provide residential services to children who were part of the state’s juvenile delinquent program. In 1975, the name was changed to RocVale.

The organization’s mission changed again in the 1990s to meet the demand for residential services for children with developmental disabilities.

About the nonprofits

Goldie Floberg is a 106-year-old nonprofit dedicated to helping people with intellectual developmental disabilities in communities around Rockford through community living, adult learning, employment services and other programs.

Milestone marked 50 years last summer of providing services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It is the region’s largest provider of residential, developmental, vocational and social support services for people with developmental disabilities, autism, epilepsy and cerebral palsy.