A private New York State registered boarding school.
  • Who We Are

    Who We Are

    The Family Foundation School is a private, therapeutic boarding school for teens at risk, serving grades 9 through 12...

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  • Decisions, Decisions

    Decisions, Decisions

    The decisions involved in selecting the right boarding school are never easy...

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  • Academics

    Academics

    We offer high school math through calculus, earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics...

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  • Counseling

    Counseling

    Therapeutic counseling is one of three essential components of The Family Foundation School program...

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  • Extracurricular

    Extracurricular

    In addition to providing the exercise all teens need, competitive athletics teach self discipline...

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  • Parent Resources

    Parent Resources

    Parents and families of teenagers are often at a loss when it comes to understanding a teen's problem behavior...

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Letter From the Founders

Welcome to The Family Foundation School. It's hard in a short space to tell you all about the history of our school and how it came to be. We think it's important, however, that you know a little about how we started and how we came to combine "family" with "school."

More than thirty years ago our family began a new journey, one based on spiritual principles. It was a journey we had to take, because we had come to realize that we were powerless. Once started, the journey has taken us many places we never dreamed of. One of them was here to the foothills of the Catskills overlooking the Delaware River. In 1976 we moved here from New York City, mostly to give our children a place in the "country" to grow up and to practice our Twelve Step principles of recovery found in Alcoholics Anonymous and the Four Absolutes of Honesty, Purity, Unselfishness, and Love. One day, a friend of one of our daughters told us she was in trouble and needed a place to stay. We said, yes, provided she try to practice the same principles in which we believed. A couple of weeks later, a young man, who was having trouble staying sober, asked us if he could live with us, too. Again, we said, yes, as long as he followed the principles. Word got around, and in a very short time our house was filled with young people looking for a change in their lives.

But young people need to be educated - that is, "led from darkness into light." So, several years ago, pressed for the need to provide an education, we decided to start a school. In the beginning, it was literally in the basement of our little brown ranch house. Now, it has grown into a spreading campus of dorms, classrooms, athletic fields, dining areas, and chapel.

When we began our journey, we never dreamed such a thing. Your future, like ours, can be incredibly wonderful, once you begin this journey. It is not without fear, but you don't have to go it alone, and along the way you may discover parts of yourself you never knew existed, and you may find the joy and happiness in the world that you hoped existed.

May God bless you,

Tony & Betty Argiros

Reflections On Who We Are

Healing Hurting Families

Published: Monday, February 6, 2012 Hurting the ones they love (namely, their families) is something many troubled teens can't help but do. Especially defiant teens. Our work in restoring healthy family relationships involves pointing out to students how

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Takes One to Help One

Published: Friday, February 3, 2012 Peer support, which is fundamental to 12-Step recovery programs, is also an integral part of the therapeutic environment of FFS. Recently, a student who's been having trouble completing his class assignments because of poor

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