Children's home celebrates first year of operation

Intermountain Providence Home recently marked its one-year anniversary of providing temporary crisis shelter for abused, abandoned and neglected children.

 On Jan. 5, 2009, Intermountain’s home accepted its first placement, then took in 53 more children the rest of the year. The eight-bed shelter remained full for much of the year, requiring it to turn down 34 referrals.

Providence Home is the first crisis shelter for children birth to 12 years old in the Flathead Valley. The average age of children entering Providence Home in the first year was 6 1/2 and the average length of stay was 39 days.

Children placed at Providence Home came from all corners of the region, including Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Bigfork, Kalispell and Browning. The most common cause of referral to Providence Home during the first year was domestic abuse, followed by drug and/or alcohol-related placements.

About 55 percent of the funding for Intermountain’s Providence Home comes from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, while the remainder comes from private donations.

Providence Home is a program of Intermountain, a nationally accredited nonprofit organization that provides mental health and educational services to meet the needs of families facing emotional challenges.

Primary areas of service include: residential treatment, outpatient services, community-based programs and professional training. Operating for more than 100 years, Intermountain is Montana’s oldest child welfare agency.