Building for our community’s future: Children’s Home Society expands domestic violence shelter, services

This paid piece is sponsored by the Children’s Home Society.

What’s that huge hole in the ground?

If you’ve driven along East 10th Street near the Empower Campus recently, you may have seen a giant hole in the ground, big piles of dirt and the start of a concrete block foundation.

It’s the exciting beginning of the new Children’s Inn, the Sioux Empire’s only domestic violence shelter. One in three women in South Dakota will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. With numbers that high, it’s likely that we all know someone affected.

Renderings by Koch Hazard Architects 

“This is a tremendous step for Children’s Home Society of South Dakota and the entire Sioux Falls region,” said Michelle Lavallee, CEO of Children’s Home Society. “Together with our boards of directors, donors, friends and community partners, we’ve been working towards this day since 2016.”

Children’s Inn, a program of Children’s Home Society, has outgrown its facility on Western Avenue. It serves people from Minnehaha, Lincoln, McCook, Turner and Union counties. Several of these counties are seeing a steady rise in population.

“During much of the last six years, we have been operating over capacity,” said Amy Carter, Children’s Inn program director. “As the area’s population increases so has the need for safe shelter for victims of domestic violence and child abuse and neglect. Children’s Inn is the only option for these individuals.”

In 2020, Children’s Inn served fewer people because of the pandemic. Still, more than 850 people came into shelter, 3,263 called the crisis line and 2,226 used drop-in counseling services. Outreach counseling, support groups and parenting classes also reached more than 1,000 people.

The new, 48,000-square-foot building will increase Children’s Inn’s capacity from 24 bedrooms to 38 bedrooms. It will include enhanced dining facilities, larger family rooms, increased indoor and outdoor play spaces and additional areas for case management and support services.

Children’s Inn features a high level of security to ensure that guests are safe. The new building will incorporate the same intensive security, along with a warm and welcoming feeling, achieved through design components such as space planning, materials selection and lighting. The project is scheduled for completion in December 2022.

To read stories about people served by Children’s Inn and learn more about the new building, click here.

One program of many

In 1893, just four years after South Dakota achieved statehood, Children’s Home Society was founded as an orphanage by William and Elizabeth Sherrard. As care for children evolved, the organization changed to meet the needs of families.

“Our mission is to prevent, treat and heal trauma,” Lavallee said. “Each of our programs takes a different path to reach the same destination. We may serve some of the same individuals or families in different programs, and our clients benefit from that continuity and our continuum of care.”

Children’s Home Society’s largest and best-known program is Psychiatric Residential Treatment for children, with locations in Sioux Falls and the Black Hills. Children age 4 through 14 with behavioral needs receive 24/7 treatment. Both facilities also have schools; the Sioux Falls school accepts day students as well as those in residential care.

Many of the children have experienced trauma, abuse or neglect. Others come from loving families but have mental health needs.

Children’s Home Society’s other programs include:

• Community-based services

This program includes foster care and adoption. Children’s Home Society specializes in therapeutic foster care, which provides adoptive families with around-the-clock support and assistance. The adoption program operates the South Dakota locations of Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, which specializes in evidence-based, child-focused recruitment and hard-to-place children.

• Nurse visitation

Bright Start is a nurse-visitation program for first-time mothers and their babies, from pregnancy through the child’s second birthday. Nurses provide education, advice and access to a wealth of resources to set up moms and babies for success.

• Forensic interviews

Based in Rapid City, the Children’s Home Child Advocacy Center receives referrals only from law enforcement, including the FBI, and Child Protection Services. Professionals use proven methods to interview children who have been sexually abused or a witness to extreme violence.

• Prevention, training and education

The Children’s Home Society prevention team trains thousands of South Dakotans annually — many teachers, mental health professionals and parents — on child-abuse prevention and understanding trauma. Nationally, one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused, but an estimated 80 percent to 90 percent cases of child sexual abuse go unreported.

Growing to accommodate the community

The new Children’s Inn facility provides enough space for growth both in the shelter and in terms of providing services to survivors of domestic violence.

“We’re proud to work with people across the state of South Dakota,” Lavallee said. “During 2020, we served more than 15,000 people. We have a top-notch board, a strong workplace culture, a legacy of stellar performance and an outstanding track record, verified by our JCAHO accreditation.”

The vision “is a world that stands up to trauma where all people are safe, healthy and resilient,” Lavallee continued. “It’s not going to happen overnight, but that’s what we are aiming for. Anything less is not acceptable.”

To learn more about Children’s Home Society, Lavallee suggests visiting chssd.org or following the organization on social media platforms listed here.

And watch construction of Children’s Inn live anytime by clicking here.