Our Mission is to keep children safe and families strong. Our vision is to end child abuse and neglect in our community.
We provide services to families with challenging life circumstances. Our emphasis is on secure, safe and stable parent child relationships and the social/emotional well-being of the youngest and most vulnerable of children. We have a range of services which include therapeutic classrooms, respite care, parenting classes, music and art curriculums, mental health intervention (infant-toddler mental health and Child Parent Psychotherapy-CPP), home visiting, intensive case management, child development and family risk factor assessments.
Parent-Child relationships are critical to development. The earlier in a child’s life that intervention is started, the more effective it is. Safe and secure nurturing is the key to learning and social-emotional development. When parents and caregivers show responsive early care, critical bonding occurs and babies thrive.
Mental Health Intake & Assessment: Mental Health Clinicians perform assessments for clients, consult with classroom staff on child social-emotional health and development, provide child/family therapy and offer parent consultation. Clinicians employ Child/Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), a relationship-based model of therapy designed to improve security of attachment relationships.
Therapeutic Classroom:Case managers and volunteers provide a safe environment for children experiencing developmental challenges to participate in supportive and therapeutic social, emotional, physical, emerging language and cognitive activities.
Family Connection: Weekly mentoring groups teach parents skills to create healthier interactions with their children. CRN uses the evidence-based curriculum, “Make Parenting a Pleasure,” which provides tools for reducing stress and teaches self-care, stress/anger management, communication, positive discipline and child development.
Parent/Infant Class: Parents and their babies meet in small groups to learn new skills, build and enhance the parent/child relationship, share social support and reduce social isolation. The Parent Infant class can include pregnant women in their third trimester.
Home Visits: Case managers regularly visit families in their homes to work on identified goals. Focusing on the child/parent relationship and the child’s development, they provide supportive encouragement for positive and nurturing child/parent interactions. Families are given information and referrals to community resources and case managers communicate with families regularly to help create and support a stable, safe and secure household.
Respite Care: Parents needing time to take care of personal or family matters can place their child in scheduled care for several hours per week.
Art & Music: We offer child and parent-child art and music sessions for our clients. These sessions promote coping skills and healing by giving the child an outlet for emotional expression. Art & music build self-esteem, social connections and self-exploration. They activate the senses and stimulate creativity, as well as support healthy brain development.
0-3 Traumatic Stress Center: The Federal Government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has designated Children’s Relief Nursery as a “0-3 Traumatic Stress Center.” We collaborate with community organizations and other centers nationwide, as part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, to define “best practices” and evidenced based interventions for young children who have been exposed to trauma.
Who is Eligible?
Our program is voluntary, and to be eligible parents/caregivers with challenging life circumstances and multiple risk factors are invited. Qualifying families are under significant stress and in need of support, intervention and respite services. Families frequently live below the poverty line, reside in North Portland and have a least one child below the age of five. Mothers who are in their third trimester of pregnancy are also eligible if they meet the other qualifying criteria.
Community Partnerships
We collaborate with other public and private organizations to reduce the risk factors of abuse and neglect. CRN partners include:
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