Published in Children’s Voice, Volume 34, Number 2

by Natalie Leek

Providence House in Cleveland, Ohio, has kept more than 16,000 children safe and families together through its innovative, nationally recognized Family Preservation Crisis Nursery model—a model that is gaining momentum in sharing its expertise and vision with child welfare advocates across the country.

With 44 years of success as one of the nation’s largest and longest-running licensed and accredited crisis nurseries, Providence House has expanded it reach outside of its local community to help others bring these lifechanging services to families in crisis. Their mission is to keep kids safe and families together by embracing them with support that strengthens communities. In the last 10 years, 98% of families who received Providence House support prevented foster care placements and stayed together. Providence House does this by providing free, voluntary, 24/7 emergency shelter and care in a safe, licensed, homelike environment to children zero through 12 whose families are experiencing crisis. While their children stay in the crisis nursery, parents and guardians receive holistic support and resources to enhance parenting skills and build personal and economic stability.

All crisis nurseries offer emergency care to children, but what makes Providence House unique is its focus on family support and intervention to address the root causes of crisis and establish connections to ongoing resources. Providence House social workers form a relationship of trust to understand the challenges each family is facing; determine how to best support them through trauma screenings or counseling; and connect them to more than 100 community partners to help them gain employment, secure safe housing, receive medical care, address sobriety or mental health challenges, and more. Families involved in Providence House programs and services are more likely to experience increases in employment, income, housing permanency, educational attainment, and reduction in the likelihood of their children entering foster care.

Nearly 80% of Providence House parents self-refer, were themselves involved in the child welfare system as young people, and are reaching out to break this cycle for their own children. By helping these parents and preventing foster care placements, Providence House saves millions of public dollars in foster care costs by unifying families. And that unification lasts—a research study conducted by Case Western Reserve University found that 82% of its families stayed together long-term (Crampton & Yoon, 2016).

To expand the impact of the evidence-based Providence House model, the organization launched the Center for Crisis Nurseries in 2020 to connect with organizations currently doing this work or interested in learning more, to educate on transformative impact of family preservation crisis nurseries, and to share resources and best practices. Under the leadership of Providence House, the Center is now an international group of 250 members across the United States and Canada who convene to advocate for and advance the crisis nursery model. Because of its reputation as a national leader in child welfare, Providence House continually receives requests for consultation or replication of its services in other communities. It was recently contracted by San Antonio, Texas to lead a feasibility study to bring the first crisis nursery to the city. This study and continued work builds on a longstanding relationship with San Antonio and will help ensure more children and families in crisis can benefit from support services focused on early intervention, foster care prevention, and enhancing family strength and stability.

Because of its reputation as a national leader in child welfare, Providence House continually receives requests for consultation or replication of its services in other communities. It was recently contracted by San Antonio, Texas to lead a feasibility study to bring the first crisis nursery to the city. This study and continued work builds on a longstanding relationship with San Antonio and will help ensure more children and families in crisis can benefit from support services focused on early intervention, foster care prevention, and enhancing family strength and stability.

As it creates opportunities across the country, Providence House also remains committed to continuing to effect change at home. This summer, the State of Ohio approved funding for Providence House to conduct a statewide feasibility study with the Every Child Ohio initiative. This work will identify communities outside of Greater Cleveland that are prepared to support a Family Preservation Crisis Nursery to address the state’s foster care crisis by further reducing the number of children entering foster care across the state and keeping more Ohio children safe and families together.

Anyone who is interested in learning more about how the Providence House model is transforming approaches to keeping kids safe and families together, or joining the Center for Crisis Nurseries Community, is encouraged to visit crisisnurseries.org or contact info@crisisnurseries.org.

 

Natalie Leek has 30 years of corporate and nonprofit experience. As the president and CEO of Providence House for nearly 24 years, she has quadrupled the organization’s service capacity and revenues, and positioned Providence House as a nationally recognized leader in child abuse prevention, family preservation, and foster care prevention. A thought leader, educator, and advocate at the state and national level on child welfare issues and policy barriers impacting families in poverty, Natalie has served on a number of nonprofit boards, is a regular presenter and lecturer at local and national conferences and universities, and consults with a range of interested parties across the United States who strive to adopt the unique program model she has developed at Providence House.

Reference

Crampton, D., & Yoon, S. (2016). Crisis nursery services and foster care prevention: An exploratory study. Children and Youth Services Review, 61, 311-316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.01.001