Formed in 1971 to meet the needs of runaways and homeless youth in the central Iowa area, Youth & Shelter Services have grown to over 10 facilities in five counties in Iowa. Youth & Shelter Services are a nonprofit organization based in Ames, Iowa, which exists to provide community youth development, drug prevention, education, treatment and residential services to children and their families. YSS works to be an advocate of children and to help them solve problems, grow and become self-sufficient, responsible, contributing members of society. Some services that the organization provides are chemical dependency treatment, family counseling, foster care and adoption, run away prevention and child abuse prevention. YSS also provides the sexual consequences prevention programs, which are aimed at reducing sexually transmitted diseases among youth through education and awareness. The Rosedale shelter is also operated by YSS as a sanctuary for homeless youth that come from abusive or neglectful households.