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Children’s Emergency Services are crisis intervention services for children who are victims of neglect or abuse, or who are at high risk for neglect or abuse. The services are offered 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Children and families are referred to these programs through Nebraska Health and Human Services.
Children who are placed in our residential programs have been deprived of life’s basic needs, such as balanced nutrition, adequate clothing, and proper medical attention. Staff is trained to provide an evaluation of the emergency situation, and to help resolve situations that require immediate attention through counseling or a referral to a more appropriate service. A mental status examination helps to determine the severity of need. Children stay until a more permanent placement is found; a period that varies with each child’s situation.
Our program ensures that youth receive basic needs and nurturing to help them through this emotionally and psychologically traumatic period in their young lives. Children learn age-appropriate social skills, independent living skills, how to manage their feelings and other issues each child/adolescent may need.
Steve & Cheryl Wild Children’s Emergency Shelter
(Douglas & Sarpy Counties)
The Steve & Cheryl Wild Children’s Emergency Shelter is designed to meet the need of the State to find placement for children at risk of abuse and neglect at a moments’ notice -- often immediately after an investigation has been conducted and children have been removed from the home. The focus is on placing siblings, age birth to 18 years, in the same facility. While in this placement, the children’s emotional and physical needs are cared for while the authorities assess the level of potential risk of abuse and neglect in the home. Staff assists the State in reunifying the children with their families, or in recommending a protective placement for the children. The average length of stay is 30 days.
The Jefferson House
(Dodge County & Surrounding Area)
The Jefferson House provides emergency shelter care and group home services for children in the city of Fremont, NE, and surrounding communities. Once the house was built, the Jefferson House Advisory Committee and Dodge County officials sought the expertise of Heartland Family Service because there were no local providers to serve Fremont children. Prior to opening the Jefferson House, children requiring emergency placement were being sent an hour or more outside of Fremont for these services. Now these children benefit from community-based services that allow them to attend their home school and continue to be near familiar people and surroundings. The well-trained professional staff offers a therapeutic program to help children get through this traumatic experience. The Jefferson House also provides Group Home services to youth in the Fremont community who require intensive care and supervision to meet their physical, emotional and psychological needs.
Thanks to the donors who helped us remodel the Jefferson House. Watch our progress.
Project Harmony Collaborative Project
(Douglas/Sarpy Counties)
Project Harmony is a non-profit organization that was developed as a result of legislation that requires all child protective services (CPS) investigations to be coordinated with the police, medical facilities, and CPS. The intent is to provide assessments (primarily of sexual abuse cases) with one investigation, as opposed to multiple individuals interviewing and potentially re-traumatizing the young victims. Some families are presented to CPS for neglect and/or abuse, but CPS deems them not at risk and the police/county attorney do not have the evidence to convict them of child abuse/neglect. However, the family is distraught and is requesting assistance for additional services. Heartland Family Service works with these families to provide needs assessments and to "follow" the family to assist and refer them to community resources.
Intensive Family Preservation
(Douglas/Sarpy Counties)
Intensive Family Preservation (IFP) Services are designed to assist and support families
- who are at risk of having their children taken away from their parents, or
- whose children are in the process of being returned to their family after an out-of-home placement.
IFP strives to preserve the family unit through counseling and support, so that strong parenting and connections to community resources become permanent. This intensive home-based service provides each family with a licensed family therapist and a paraprofessional family support specialist. Staff combines comprehensive in-home family therapy with community-based care coordination and 24-hour crisis response to address each family's needs. Together, they work with families to resolve crises, improve family functioning, learn skills for healthy parenting and relationships and connect with community resources. IFP services are based on a family system model, in which an understanding of the family's linkages with the community are as important as intra-familial and intergenerational dynamics.
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