Southwest Iowa is losing a crisis center that offered emergency childcare. Program Coordinator Judy Kiley explains that the Crisis Child Care Network provided help to families in Adair, Adams, Union, and Madison Counties. It could be someone leaving an abusive situation who needed a place for the children to be safe. She says other examples could be an accident that’s put family members in a hospital and left them in need of help caring for children, or relieving a parent who’s “just stressed out.” Kiley says the program was set up in conjunction with Adair County Hospital, but its administration has been handed off several times over the past few years.Kiley says while Adair County Home Care operated the program at first they “let it go,” and Matura Action Corporation took over before announcing it’s unable to fund the program. Once it closes down, Kiley says it’d take money to restart the Crisis Network. The state department of human services has talked about it, she says, but any new program would be geared to “children who have more extreme problems,” more for the needs of children than parents. The Crisis Child Care Network closes its doors Wednesday.
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