It begins with a caring and generous act -- a reaching out to an abused 7-year-old boy named Alex in Northampton, MA just two years ago, by psychotherapist Wendy Gannett , who thought she was well equipped to adopt children from the foster system.

The rest of the journey that brought Wendy, Alex, and two siblings to Treehouse, a planned intergenerational community in nearby Easthampton , MA earlier this year, is thoughtfully related in the August 17th issue of The New York Times by writer Pam Belluck.

The Treehouse concept carries the hope "that a close-knit support network can prevent children from bouncing from one foster home to another, and give them tools to succeed," the Times story says.

Pioneered in 1994 by Hope Meadows, at a former military base in Rantoul, Illinois, this initiative appears to be catching on. Hope Meadows, according to the story, plans to replicate in about 18 states, with the help of $7.7 million from the W.K. Kellogg foundation.