Inperium Demonstrates the Power of its Affiliate Network with CFS and Abraxas

Written by Kaitlyn Gomez for Village Voice

Inperium, Inc., one of the nation’s largest networks of human services organizations, has announced a strategic affiliation with CFS, Corp. (Children and Family Services) of Indiana, a move that secures critical behavioral health and family support programs in the state. By pairing CFS’s deep-rooted community presence with the operational strength of Inperium and the programmatic expertise of its affiliate Abraxas Youth & Family Services (YFS), the partnership is restoring a vital Vincennes campus and ensuring long-term sustainability for families across Indiana and beyond.

For more than four decades, CFS has been a lifeline to disenfranchised and underserved families across Indiana. But after the closure of its Vincennes campus in 2022, the organization faced daunting financial and infrastructure challenges. Despite its proven, evidence-based programs focused on adolescent mental health, substance use disorder treatment, and support for survivors of violence, the question remained: how could CFS continue delivering essential services without new capital and infrastructure support?

“Since 1981, CFS Corp. has been a vital support system for vulnerable Indiana families,” said Mollie Ewing, Chief Executive Officer and President of CFS. “Since our Vincennes campus closed, finding a partner to provide both capital and infrastructure became critical to our future viability. Our strategic affiliation with Inperium now enables us to continue the pursuit of our founding mission.”

Through Inperium’s network model, that mission is already being reignited. CFS will work in collaboration with Abraxas YFS, another Inperium affiliate, to reopen and repurpose the Vincennes campus, delivering high-quality behavioral healthcare to children and families referred through Indiana’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

“The partnership is really the best of both worlds,” said Abraxas CEO and Inperium EVP/COO Jeff Giovino. “CFS brings strong community-based expertise and local relationships; we bring experience running high-demand residential programs. Combining those strengths, with Inperium’s backing, makes the model more streamlined.”

The project truly reflects the role of major institutional investors in making such turnarounds possible. After Inperium’s successful bond offering in December, one of the world’s largest asset managers collaborated on the acquisition of the mothballed CFS property. That willingness to engage, Ryan Dewey Smith, Inperium’s Founding Executive Chairman & CEO, notes, came from trust built during the bond process. “It’s a unique nuance of this affiliation,” he said. “Because of our investor relationships, we could not only stabilize CFS but also revive a campus critical to local care.”

Beyond bricks and mortar, the affiliation demonstrates Inperium’s tagline in practice: “Innovation through collaboration.” Abraxas YFS is bringing its residential footprint to Indiana for the first time, while allowing CFS to expand community based programs to a larger region than was possible before. Ewing is giving back to the network by sharing her grant-writing expertise with other affiliates in states like New Jersey and California. Telepsych connections are also being explored to extend Indiana-based expertise to support populations in other states.

“This isn’t just about one campus,” Giovino explains. “It’s about system-wide improvement. Affiliates strengthen each other, whether that’s through program delivery, leadership, or resource-sharing. That ripple effect is what makes Inperium’s model so powerful.”

For the families in southern Indiana and Illinois, the most visible outcome will be restored access to high-quality, community-connected care. For Inperium, it’s another example of how scale, capital, and collaboration can combine to turn crisis into sustainability, and, ultimately, impact. “Too often rural communities are left behind,” said Ewing. “By bringing this campus back online, we’re not just reopening doors. We’re restoring hope.”