Ready for Life

Ready for Life, a division of Better Choices, Inc., is a Redding-based Foster Family Agency with over 20 years of experience. Our agency was founded because of one family's compassion for children. Since 2001, Ready for Life Foster Family Agency, a private non-profit, faith-based agency has been committed to providing safe and loving homes for children in Northern California, including Shasta, Tehama, Trinity, and Siskiyou County. Our vision is to ensure every child has the opportunity for stable, lasting, life-long relationships and hope-filled expectations.

Ready for Life Host Homes, founded in 2019, was created out of a need for more robust and innovative solutions to address youth homelessness in Shasta county. The program is designed to support homeless youth, not only on their journey to obtain permanent housing; but in their path to build healthy, life-long connections with supportive individuals. We provide short-term, transitional housing via a “host home” model, which pairs transition-aged young adults (ages 18-24) with community members who have underutilized spaces in their homes. During this time, the youth is working with a case manager to identify and achieve personal goals which will ultimately remove barriers to obtaining permanent housing. Additionally, our program offers a shared-living transitional housing model, where youth are engaging in case management services while living in a home with other young adults.

In addition to these housing resources, we have developed a Resource Center, which is designed to allow for a safe, welcoming environment for housing unstable youth to utilize computers, hang out, study, relax, do laundry, find clothing, food, and other basic essentials. This space can be accessed by any homeless youth in Shasta County, and is designed to connect individuals to resources, build healthy relationships, and to create felt-safety for all those who enter.