Gema Alvarado-Guerrero

Parenting Resource Center Executive Director

April is Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Month. A recent news release from the Minnesota Department of Human Services stated that the number of reported cases of abuse and neglect toward children grew 25 percent in 2016, with a total of 39,500 children being the subject of these reports.

To help address the situation of child abuse and neglect, the Parenting Resource Center is home to the Crisis Nursery Program of Mower and Freeborn Counties. This is an early intervention child abuse prevention program that stabilizes families coping with multiple risk factors and keeps children safe by providing short-term emergency childcare anywhere between two to 72-hours. Crisis Nursery works by placing children in a care home, defined as a household or daycare that has either been licensed by the state of Minnesota as a daycare site or a licensed foster care home. Any parent or caregiver can utilize this program, free of charge and available 24/7 365 days a year, by calling our Crisis Nursery Specialist at 877-434-9599.

Situations that merit Crisis Nursery services may include a job interview, an unexpected daycare closing, homelessness, and/or a parent needing some “me time” to recharge in order to take care of his/her littles.

The Parenting Resource Center is always looking for new care homes, which are licensed free of charge to the household and who receive a small stipend for their time when children are placed in their home. To learn more, please contact the Parenting Resource Center at 507-437-8330.
Gema Alvarado-Guerrero is the Executive Director of the Parenting Resource Center in Austin. If you would like to talk with a parenting specialist about family challenges, call the toll-free Parent WarmLine at 1-888-584-2204/Línea de Apoyo at 877-434-9528.  For free emergency child care call Crisis Nursery at 877-434-9599.