This Office for Victims of Crime e-publication provides information about the HALOS (Helping and Lending Outreach Support) strategy.
The HALOS (Helping and Lending Outreach Support) strategy is based on a grassroots initiative developed in South Carolina to address the gaps in financial assistance provided to families caring for children in foster care. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime recognized HALOS as a promising strategy for developing and implementing community collaborations for helping child victims living in foster care. This Web site offers information on the strategy and how it was developed and suggests strategies that local governments and organizations can use to develop and implement the model in their communities. This online toolkit discusses the HALOS model and how it works, the need for conducting a community needs assessment of at-risk children and the development of a strategic plan, the need for data collection and evaluation efforts once the model is implemented in the community, and how to sustain the HALOS strategy once is has been implemented.