Child & Family Well-Being

Generations Community Center

The Heartland Family Service Generations Community Center offers recreational, social, and nutritional programs to meet the needs of seniors ages 60 and older. There is no cost for membership.

The center serves a lunch each day at noon, sponsored by The BUILD Health Challenge Grant, for seniors age 60 and older at a suggested $4.00 contribution. Individuals below the age of 60 are welcome to participate in the meal program for $10.00 per meal.

The Generations Community Center offers monthly, live musical entertainment. The weekly activity calendar is created from the suggestions of attending senior members, which includes crafts, Bingo, outings, low-impact aerobics, weekly Bible study, various support groups, a book club, and a gardening club.

Eligibility: Seniors age 60 and over.

Funding: This program is made possible with generous support from United Way of the Midlands. Heartland Family Service’s Generations Community Center’s Culture of Healing project is supported through a contract awarded through CFDA 93.391, Activities to Support State, Tribal, Local and Territorial (STLT) Health Department Response to Public Health or Healthcare Crises, by the Douglas County Health Department (DCHD), the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (CDC/ATSDR).

Restoring HOPE

Helping provide Opportunities through Partnerships that Empower Familes

Heartland Family Service’s Restoring HOPE (R-HOPE) offers a family-centered, community-based, and culturally competent array of services designed to support and stabilize vulnerable youth and their families. The heart of these services is Helping provide Opportunities through Partnerships that Empower Families. R-HOPE’s services are offered by expert human services professionals who are committed to making a lasting impact on the community.

Child and Family Services promote healthy parent-child relationships and are designed to educate and prevent, reduce, or eliminate neglect, abuse, or exploitation of children.

• Early Childhood Education Specialists share research-based information that supports the impact of healthy attachment on brain development as well as cognitive, social, and physical development. 
• Family Support Services focus on preserving the family unit or reunifying families by assisting youth and/or caregivers with life skills, system navigation, parenting skills, and goal setting and achievement. These families are referred and funded by the NE Department of Health and Human Services and NE Probation.

Youth Focused Services work to improve outcomes for at-risk or system-involved youth to keep families together and communities safe.

• Refugee Advocacy addresses the disproportionate contact refugee families have with the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
• Family Partner is a service referred through Juvenile Probation working with families as they navigate a system wrought with barriers and complexity.
• Prevention Services is a service developed in partnership with the Omaha Police Department, Project Harmony, and the Missing Youth Taskforce.  Referrals for the service are open. Services may include an in-home approach intended for refugee youth at risk of system involvement.
• Community Youth Coaching is a youth-guided, family-driven alternative to detention providing innovative, individualized services, strengthening safety through relationship building, skill building, and practicing problem-solving to interrupt cycles of negative behavior. These clients are referred to and funded by Nebraska Probation.

Groups & Classes empower youth and families to improve their overall wellbeing through education.

• Ready in 5 assists refugees in preparing their children for success in American kindergarten by providing weekly educational groups in the community. Parents develop skills in early childhood best practices and are shown ways to integrate cognitive and social skill building as a part of their daily routines. 
• Positive Parenting Groups are offered for parents/caregivers with children of any age. Nurturing Parenting Group is a 12-week course designed to help parents acquire knowledge and skills to improve overall parenting skills and address known contributors to child maltreatment. Circle of Security Parenting Group is an 8-week course promoting secure attachment by focusing on the parent/ caregivers’ understanding of their child’s emotional world.
• Restorative Justice utilize restorative practices to emphasize the harm done to an individual, group and/or the community due to choices and actions one has made. The group and curriculum work to involve all those affected by the crime in the resolution process and develop new perspectives of healing and hope. The goal is to repair harm and prevent further harm or crime from occurring.

Therapeutic School

The Heartland Family Service Therapeutic School is an innovative program that provides academic and therapeutic programming for special education students with major mental health diagnoses. The school utilizes the trauma-informed care, collaborative, and proactive solution approaches.

Eligibility: Must have a mental health diagnosis as well as a referral from home school district, and an active Individualized Education Plan (IEP) in the counties of Adair, Adams, Audubon, Carroll, Cass, Clarke, Crawford, Decatur, Fremont, Harrison, Madison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby, Taylor, and Union counties in Iowa.