Austin's House - The Solution

The Solution

Carson Valley Children’s Center / Austin's House will provide services for up to ten children at any one time between the ages of 0 to 17. This facility will accommodate both boys and girls who are unable to be maintained in their own homes until appropriate homes can be located for them, i.e., foster homes, relative placements or other approved homes. The resident children will be referrals from Child Protective Services and our local social service agency, referrals from the court, and homeless children who are in need of shelter. the Center will not accept serious offenders, felons, or known perpetrators. The program will provide the basic living necessities including proper nutrition, hygiene, rest, recreation and education. The facility will be designed for short term placements of Douglas County youth in crisis situations. Youth from other counties in the state of Nevada will also be accepted at the Center with Douglas County children receiving first priority.

Austin's House will provide 24 hour supervised care for residents.

Other child-oriented community services will also be provided at the Center and offered to the community at large, including a supervised visitation program and supervised exchange program. A mentoring and literacy program will be provided by trained volunteers for resident and non-resident children and our facility will be available for foster parent training classes to encourage the development of more foster homes in Douglas County. Services will also include programs dealing with child safety, child abuse awareness, and programs to assistgrandparents and other relatives who are providing care for children who are no longer able to live with their parents.

We will not discriminate based on sex, religion, ethnicity and/or physical disabilities. Our center will be handicap accessible.

Austin's House will serve the primary purpose of providing a safe place where children (and sibling groups) can remain together during their time of crisis. All of the children with whom we work are experiencing some sort of emotional trauma. As mentioned, while residing at the children’s center, professionals can provide a needs assessment and formulate a proper course of treatment such as counseling, medical attention, educational assessment, etc.. We also anticipate collaboration with local high school students, the Senior Center, local churches, Douglas County Recreation Department and local civic groups.

Initial support from the community is overwhelming and the potential for success for this program is great. We’re only talking about a home that can accommodate approximately 10 children. We are all aware of the population growth rate in our county. With this growth, we anticipate an increase in cases involving children, so the time to act is now.

Need for Children's Center

Sample Case Scenarios

Funding and Support