The O’Connell Children’s Shelter has offered multiple family services for children, youth and families in Douglas and surrounding counties since 1996. The goal of prevention programs is to enable families to stay together and avoid court involvement.

Truancy Prevention and Diversion
The High School Truancy and Diversion program serves Douglas County high school aged youth (grades 9-12) who have been identified as legally truant to alleviate attendance barriers and promote academic success. Youth work with a case manager who monitors their attendance and grades, provides referrals for additional community support as needed and supports positive communication between families and schools to resolve truancy issues without court involvement. This program also works with high school aged youth who are under court supervision for truancy to support them throughout the court process and prevent the youth from being placed in state custody.

Specialized Case Management
Specialized Case Management is a voluntary prevention program designed to keep Douglas County youth of all ages from becoming court involved in either the Child in Need of Care (CINC-NAN) or juvenile offender systems with the ultimate goal of preventing children from coming into state custody. The program provides case management support using a family centered, trauma informed approach. Families work with a case manager to identify at risk behaviors and develop goals to overcome their barriers successfully. The program provides strengths based assessments and referrals for additional community supports as needed.

Functional Family Therapy
Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is an evidence-based intervention for youth and families used by O’Connell Children’s Shelter to support prevention efforts. This strength-focused family counseling model is designed primarily for at-risk youth who have been referred by the juvenile justice, mental health, school, or child welfare systems. Services are short-term and conducted in home settings and/or can also be provided in schools, child welfare facilities, probation and parole systems, and mental health facilities. FFT works with a young person’s entire family and extrafamilial influences to facilitate positive growth and development.

OCS Crossover Youth Prevention
Programming is provided to youth (ages 10-18) and their families in Douglas County with a youth in the home who crosses over between the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. This program targets the unique needs of youth that are at risk of or are involved in both systems by utilizing a combination of case management and evidenced based modalities to prevent at risk youth from further involvement in the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare systems. Families are provided crisis intervention, case management, therapeutic support, peer groups, behavior modification systems, etc. which are designed to increase healthy family relationships and ensure families remain together.