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The Northeast Nebraska Child
Advocacy Center (NENCAC),
along with Oasis Counseling
International, Norfolk Family Medicine,
and Norfolk Family YMCA, has received a
grant of $750,000 from the Department
of Health and Human Services to develop
additional programs to service the needs
of youth in northeast Nebraska.
The NENCAC will receive approximately $177,000 over the next three years. It plans to develop curriculum for two research-based prevention programs, expanding its services to include abuse prevention. With these funds, the NENCAC hopes to decrease the number of child abuse cases and increase safety for vulnerable children throughout northeast Nebraska.
“Prevention services have always been a long-term plan for our center, and with the addition of the grant, we are going to be able to offer these services much sooner,” said Mark Zimmerer, NENCAC coordinator. “This grant also offers an opportunity to partner with three great local agencies to improve services to youth in northeast Nebraska.”
The NENCAC has hired prevention specialist Kim Neemeyer to assist with developing a child abuse prevention curriculum focused on bullying, child abuse, and computer safety in schools. In addition, a shaken-baby prevention program will be created for parents of newborns before they are discharged from the hospital. “This is a great opportunity to reach so many children, parents, and educators,” said Neemeyer.
In 2007, the NENCAC provided services to 309 abuse victims and advocacy services to 1,058 of their family members. As a regional referral center, the Child Advocacy Center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The center is located at Faith Regional Health Services East Campus in Norfolk and provides services for over 20 counties in the northeast Nebraska area. Faith Regional supports the NENCAC through an in-kind donation of space and funding.
The mission of the Northeast Nebraska Child Advocacy Center is to provide hope and healing to victims of severe child abuse. Using a joint investigative team approach, professionals from child protective services, law enforcement, prosecution, victim advocacy agencies, and medical and mental health communities work as a team to investigate and intervene in cases of suspected child abuse.