Children’s Village planning to open third facility

Children’s Village provides a lot under two roofs in Coeur d’Alene.

A crisis nursery. Foster care. Counseling. School.

Now the nonprofit that serves homeless, abused and troubled children and teens is planning for a third home that could double its capacity.

A capital campaign was launched this week to raise money for construction and operation of the new facility and create an endowment fund to help with future costs.

“Because of the need, we’d like to have it accomplished as soon as possible,” said Tinka Shaffer, development director for the Children’s Village foundation. The nonprofit is currently debt-free and Shaffer said the board of directors wants to keep it that way.

Construction won’t begin until all of the funds needed for construction have been raised, she said. Shaffer said the project will cost an estimated $4.7 million to $5.1 million.

Some of those costs may be defrayed with donations of materials and labor, she said.

The proposed two-story, 24,000-square-foot building would have an attached 9,000-square-foot education wing to house Children’s Village Academy and a gym. Children’s Village has had an accredited school since 1996, but students of all ages are currently taught in a lone classroom in the basement of one of the homes.

The building will include 24 additional bedrooms, a commercial kitchen, counseling center and office space. It will be built on part of the 15 acres Children’s Village owns, and situated next to the existing homes.

The expansion will allow Children’s Village to expand its services and provide space for twice as many children. Children’s Village currently is licensed for 22 children and teens.

More than 1,000 children have lived at Children’s Village since it opened in 1990, Shaffer said.

In that time, Shaffer said she’s seen increasing dysfunction in families and an increasing severity in the type of problems children are experiencing as a result. Many issues are related to substance abuse, she said.

“I’ve never seen such a change in our young people as I’ve seen in the last 15 years,” Shaffer said.

With the expansion, Shaffer said Children’s Village would like to begin offering child care for infants and toddlers. The center could serve employees of Children’s Village and also children with special needs who aren’t accepted to traditional day-care centers.

“We’ve had calls from the community asking, ‘Can you do day care for my little one because he’s been kicked out of three day cares,’ ” Shaffer said. “Maybe there’s a void in this community we can fill.”

At the other end of the spectrum, Shaffer said there are concerns about young adults ages 18 to 20 who have “aged out” of the foster care system.

Providing counseling and guidance to former foster children and encouraging them to go to college is another goal, Shaffer said.

The nonprofit also wants to expand its ability to provide therapeutic foster care and treatment for children with severe behavior and emotional problems.