Programs

• Emergency Care focuses on meeting the basic needs of the children so they can begin to feel safe and to heal. These needs include shelter in a homelike facility and 24-hour supervised care, balanced meals, healthy snacks, clothing and personal care items.
• The Sophia Scott Expanding Horizons Program gives children the opportunity to participate in fun activities that help them learn to manage fear and stress while also building self-esteem.
• On-Site School Classrooms offer individualized education by state-certified teachers in a supportive, low student-to-teacher ratio environment.
• Counseling Services are available on-site, along with follow up services that are provided to the Shelter by a licensed counselor from Vista Health.

WHO WE HELP

• In 2010, about 400 children received care at NWA Children’s Shelter; however, about children had to be referred elsewhere because no bed was available for them.
• That same year, 78% of the children served lived in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley.
• More than 5,500 children have stayed at the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter since we opened our doors in 1993.
• The current need is outpacing our ability to provide service. More than 6,700 cases of child abuse and neglect are reported in Arkansas each year. Nationally, about 3 million cases of child abuse and neglect are reported annually, involving about 6 million children. That comes to one report of abuse or neglect every 10 seconds.

“I wish every kid in foster care could go to the shelter,
because it’s a home.”       –Ashley, former resident