CEDARS YOUTH SERVICES INC
6601 Pioneers Boulevard, Lincoln, NE 68506 www.cedars-kids.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: To help children and youth achieve safety, stability, and enduring family relationships. CEDARS founding and enduring priority is safety for children and youth who have experienced, or are vulnerable to, abuse, neglect and/or homelessness.

To help children and youth achieve safety, stability, and enduring family relationships.

Out of Home ServicesFor children and youth unable to live at home due to neglect, abuse, homelessness, runaway, or other family crises, CEDARS provides an individualized array of emergency and supportive housing to protect their safety, promote their healthy growth and development and facilitate their successful transition to permanency. Services are provided through the following programs: Foster Care, Youth Emergency Shelter, Street Outreach, Transitional Living and Family Support. CEDARS Pioneers Center houses the only short-term emergency shelter for youth, ages 12-18, who do not have immediate access to a safe living arrangement in Southeast Nebraska. Youth may be referred to the Pioneers Center because of: family homelessness; hospitalization of a parent; history of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence; for interruption of a foster care placement; short-term respite care or as a detention alternative. This program has been in operation since 1947. A variety of levels of care are offered at the Pioneers Center. Crisis Stabilization is a more intensive level of care that involves the support of a CEDARS therapist. To prevent youth from being placed outside the home, CEDARS also offers Basic Center services to families in the community who are not involved in the Child Welfare or Juvenile Justice System. Bridges Transitional Living Program offers supervised, community-based apartment living and life skills education for youth, ages 16-21, who have been homeless or are learning independent living skills. Youth may live alone or with a roommate, or with their child(ren) if parenting, with access to 24-hour staff support. Street Outreach Services (SOS) offers street-based assistance to runaway, homeless, and at-risk teens, including support, referrals, and crisis intervention. SOS staff focus their efforts on high risk schools, homeless shelters and on the streets of Lincoln to connect with homeless youth. The Youth Opportunity Center (YOC) is located in downtown Lincoln to provide our community's homeless youth with a safe, welcoming environment where they can have a meal, get basic hygiene items, do their laundry, and obtain other resources. Family Support Services provide specialists who work with children and their parents to help families gain the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to successfully achieve their goals. These services are intended to facilitate parent participation in child-directed interactions, where positive social praise and introduction of parent-directed activities are used. Foster Care staff work closely with children, biological parents, and foster families to build and maintain relationships. Individual families, who are either licensed or child-specific provide foster care and emergency placements for children, ages birth-18. Permanency is the goal for each child, which may include reunification, adoption, guardianship, or independent living. Respite care, support groups, and extensive training opportunities are also available for children and families, as well as 24-hour support for the foster family and youth.

Family Resources and EducationFocusing on maintaining positive family and community connections. These prevention and early intervention services are provided to assist families in remaining intact and to reunify those currently living apart. Focus is placed on parenting skill building, appropriate child and youth development, and resource networking. CEDARS also provides children with early and ongoing developmental opportunities to become better learners. Extra efforts are made to accommodate low-income families receiving state childcare subsidies and offers scholarships to assist financial need. Services are provided through Northbridge Early Childhood Development Center, Community Learning Centers, and in family homes. Healthy Families Home Visiting is an evidence-based, nationally recognized home visiting program model designed to work with overburdened families who are at-risk for child abuse and neglect and other adverse childhood experiences. Home visiting is a service provided within the home by highly trained and qualified professionals, including public health nurses and outreach workers. This program provides parents with support to enhance the child-parent relationship. Partners in Permanency (PIP) is a free, confidential resource for parents who have questions regarding their child's behavior, parenting struggles or family permanency concerns. Trained Family Partners assess immediate safety needs, identify the potential level of a behavioral crisis, make recommendations or referrals to applicable resources, and help families receive appropriate support required for their personal situation. The Lincoln Community Response team supports families in the 68504 zip code that are experiencing crisis. A family crisis may include behavioral or mental health problems, school truancy, law violations or other social factors. As a part of the team, a CEDARS Family Resource Partner works with families from Clinton, Riley and Hartley Elementary Schools and Culler Middle School to connect with families and provide resources and support. Sixpence is a home visitation program focusing on child development and parenting education for teen parents. Staff work with the family until the child is age 3, preferably for the duration of 18-24 months. Sixpence is provided in collaboration with the Lincoln Public Schools. CEDARS Northbridge Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) serves children, ages six weeks to six years. The center utilizes Creative Curriculum Gold Edition and continuity of care where the teacher and four children transition together to classrooms from birth to age three and ages three to five. CEDARS ECDC is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and offers the benefit of an early childhood and family therapist. CEDARS Northbridge ECDC is located at 1533 N. 27th Street. Community Learning Centers (CLC) offer on-site before-and-after school childcare for elementary school children, grades K-5, as well as specialized clubs that enhance academic performance. The CLC programs also focus on family and community involvement and operate a School and Neighborhood Advisory Committee (SNAC). CEDARS offers CLCs at Clinton Elementary School at 1520 N. 29th Street and Hartley Elementary located at 730 N. 33rd Street.

Juvenile ServicesFor youth who are at risk for or who have committed law violations, CEDARS provides positive youth development programs to prevent subsequent law violations and prepare them for successful community living. Programs include Tracker and Electronic Monitoring services and Life Skills Reporting Center. Youth receive support in the areas of education, employment, recreation, basic living skills, crisis intervention and healthy relationships. Tracker Services provides one-on-one supervision and advocacy for youth, ages 13-18 in Districts 2 and 3J, who are at risk of an out-of-home placement, or are in the process of transitioning back home. Trackers assist youth in the areas of education, employment, healthy recreation, community service, restitution, basic living skills, crisis intervention, and family development. Electronic Monitoring/Global Positioning System (EM/GPS) is a time-limited service provided to youth in Districts 2 and 3J whose behaviors put themselves or community safety at risk. The service allows for youth to be monitored when there has been a history of unaccountable time. GPS is utilized for short periods of time to ensure stability with the youth and provide rehabilitative services to them. Life Skills Reporting Center allows youth who are in need of a more structured environment during the day or evening, an opportunity to remain in their home placement. The center emphasizes the philosophy of positive reinforcements and asset building to encourage new healthier behaviors and major accomplishments. Trained staff provide transportation to and from the center within a 15 mile radius. The primary focus of the day program is academic performance and the primary focus of the evening program is skill building, employment, independent living and improved decision making, which is all supported by a variety of curricula and skill building activities.

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