ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Amid continuing struggles to recruit foster families throughout the state, New Mexico's Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) is taking more steps to house at-risk children in a home-like environment instead of having them stay in their offices. News 13 spoke with the CYFD secretary about their latest group home that opened a week ago in Albuquerque. Story continues below News: VIDEO: Deputies arrive at Belen home where teen is accused of murdering family Don't Miss: Why one farmer’s Chimayo green chile is gaining fame in the final frontier Education: APS Board of Education votes to close Taft Middle School Traffic: City of Albuquerque looks for ways to increase safety on Lead and Coal Avenues It's called 'HOPE House,' and is designed to hold ten girls who are at-risk and need shelter. "Today is our one-week anniversary of serving children. We were licensed on the 10th and we started serving kids on the 12th," said Robert Chavez, CEO of Youth Development, Inc. (YDI). The 'HOPE' in HOPE House stands for 'Healing, Opportunity, Pride and Empowerment.' "HOPE House is a transitional living program. We're able to provide short-term care for individuals who are removed from their households due to a number of circumstances," Chavez said. HOPE House is the sister program to a multipurpose home for boys that opened earlier this year. "We've been working on it for quite a while. Since opening up AMIkids in Albuquerque for males, we've been working on a solution for some of our office stays for some of our teenage females," said Teresa Casados, secretary of CYFD. This house has the capacity for ten girls ages 12 to 17. With seven bedrooms and three bathrooms, it is set up to feel like a home to these girls; and is equipped with therapy rooms as well. "It's giving these girls an opportunity to have a home to stay that is safe, that we have clinical staff, therapist staff on staff to help them cope with the trauma that they've been experiencing," Chavez said. The home is newly remodeled; and YDI runs it. They are on a one-year, $1.5 million dollar contract with CYFD for their services. Casados said this group home isn't a permanent fix: "this is just a bridge, it's temporary, and we're really working to try to build out capacity within our foster care system for the kids to meet their needs," Casados said. "There's folks that don't think this is the best place for young youth to remain at, but there are some youth that just, you know, we have a constraint, we don't have enough foster care parents available. We have some kids that may not be able to get back home and that's when we have to start working with them and maybe getting prepared for independent living," Chavez said. Casados said it is a huge step towards keeping kids from having to sleep in CYFD offices: "I think it makes a huge dent for us. I think on average we have about 12 to 17 kids sleeping in the office right now; and so you know, capacity at AMI is 12, Hope House is 10, and so we're really hoping that it can solve some of the issues we have with office stays." There are currently three girls living at HOPE House. "It's a difficult time for them, right, when you've been removed from your house and your home and that's all you've known. So, we want to just support them and provide them the help they need," Chavez said. YDI said they got $500,000 in federal funding through Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury to help buy the house; they're working with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to fully purchase the house.