Mentoring Programs

Trillium Family Services currently offers two child mentoring programs -- one in the Portland Metro Region and one in the Mid-Willamette Valley Region.

Family of Friends:
This Portland area program matches mentor families with at-risk children ages 6 to 9 years old. Most mentoring programs match individuals with children while Family of Friends is designed to involve matched children in a supportive and encouraging family environment. Read More »

To learn more about volunteering as a Foster Grandparent, please call the Trillium Children’s Farm Home
at 541-758-5951
or, outside the Corvallis area,
call toll-free at 1-800-695-7505.

Foster Grandparent Program:
This Mid-Willamette Valley program, funded through a federal grant, trains low-income seniors seeking community engagement to work one-on-one with children in local schools, Head Start programs, and other settings.

To be eligible, foster grandparents must meet certain federal income guidelines and be willing to make a difference in the lives of children. Eligible volunteers receive a small hourly stipend, a noon meal at their volunteer location, supplemental accident and liability insurance, mileage reimbursement and monthly in-service training.

Last year, 86 seniors participated and logged about 54,000 hours of volunteer service in Benton, Linn and Lane counties. In all, about 2,700 children were served.

The program recently expanded into Marion, Polk, Yamhill and Lincoln counties.

The Foster Grandparent Program was created nationally in 1965 and today has several locally managed program sites in Oregon. The Foster Grandparent Program’s goal is to engage seniors who want more community interaction and match them with local educational programs where children can benefit from more one-on-one interaction.