Welcome to the Center for Children's Services
How far we have come. More than a century ago, Vermilion County's orphaned, neglected and needy children had no certain option but the County Home, more colorfully and accurately known as the Poor Farm. A place where children could live in safety and stability was a crying need, and the community met it with the Children's Home.
Now we have sophisticated psychological treatment, temporary shelter, early intervention and crisis intervention. Yet there also are problems undreamed of in 1894 - from crack to cracks in the fabric of our society that mean fewer extended families, more absent parents, divorce, less nurturing for our neediest children.
So how far have we come? Not so far that the need has ended for the work begun over 100 years ago or for the caring spirit that created the Children's Home and sustains it as the Center for Children's Services (Olmstead).
The Center for Children's Services is now able to offer this community a comprehensive set of family support services and resources. The Center is unique among child and family centers, not only in our community, but in the entire state of
Services which are available to our families include individual, group, and family counseling, crisis intervention, parent education programs, youth mentoring, in-home support services, family conflict intervention, respite, job skills training, GED classes, therapeutic after school programming, services for pregnant and parenting teens, child psychiatry services, temporary youth placements, interventions for delinquent and antisocial youth, school-based programs, etc. Regardless of a family's needs, help can be obtained in one or more of the Center's many services and programs.
The Council on Accreditation for Children and Families (COA) has re-accredited The Center for Children's Services a quality score of 99.73%, one of the highest scores ever awarded by COA! The COA evaluation of The Center is definitive proof of the world-class level of quality that The Center offers this community.
Our response policy is a simple one: WE ALWAYS HELP. There is no such thing as being told "sorry, we don't do that" or "That's not our job or in our contract". No one is turned away. Regardless of situation of funding, we always assess the immediate needs of the moment, and get to happen whatever is necessary to keep people safe and alive. We will always either meet the need directly, make arrangements to ensure that another service provider will meet the need, link you to resources, or help to identify options. You can ALWAYS count on the Center to connect you to the resources that you need, day or night.
The Center for Children's Services stresses family-focused interventions that target changes in the youth's world and his/her important relationships. Treatment ultimately involves working with the home, school, and community to identify and implement recipes for success (conditions which bring out the best in them) and identify the eliminate recipes for failure (conditions which bring out the worst in them). By providing conditions in which the youth thrives, and by eliminating obstacles, triggers and temptations for trouble, we rig the world so that things go well. Out motto is: "Success can always be engineered: Poor card players suddenly get much better when you deal them aces". Our goal is to deal you aces.
