Cleveland's Providence House offers loving home to children, families in crisis

CLEVELAND - In tiny white sneakers, blue jeans and a bright magenta top, a 3-year-old girl shrieks when she notices shelves of wooden blocks in the bright blue playroom. She immediately throws the blocks on the floor and starts stacking them.

Her 2-year-old sister is just feet away, mesmerized by the ID badge around Natalie Leek-Nelson’s neck, the CEO and president of Providence House, a children’s crisis care nursery on Cleveland’s west side. 

Both girls, who cannot be identified by name for privacy reasons, reside at Providence House which offers emergency shelter and early child care services to children up to 6 years old.

“Our goal is to help that whole child and help that whole family,” said Leek-Nelson who’s worked for Providence House, Ohio’s first crisis nursery founded in 1981, for the past 11 years.

Providence House voluntarily takes custody of children from their parents for up to 60 days.

“We have children who are here that are homeless. We have children who are with their moms fleeing domestic violence. We have caregivers with significant mental health issues,” said Leek-Nelson, adding that families refer themselves to Providence House or community agencies recommend them to the organization.

Leek-Nelson said children are counseled and cared for during their stay while parents also receive counseling from Providence House social workers.

“The children are embraced in what a normal everyday life would be. There’s structure. They wake up from their beds, they have breakfast as a group, a family. Then, they might do play activities or art activities,” said Jennifer McKinley who’s been volunteering with Providence House for a year and a half.

McKinley said the sisters, who arrived a month ago, are thriving there.

“They’re very active and have really gotten into the routine here at Providence House. They have their rooms, their blankets and they’re very comfortable,” McKinley added.

About 70 percent of the home’s residents are sibling families, where two or more children from the same family live together. Leek-Nelson said oftentimes, the older sibling is the primary caregiver in broken homes.

“We have had children that are making bottles, they’re changing diapers. Baby cries and they’re going to sooth baby and calm baby. We’ve had young five and 6-year-old children ask us ‘did you feed my baby today?’” she said.

Providence House currently has a waiting list of at least 15 children. Next month, it plans to open an additional residence allowing the organization to accept a maximum of 20 children at a time, ages 0-10 years old. For more information about Providence House’s services, call 216-651-5982 or visit their website www.provhouse.org.

Blessing House in Lorain County is another crisis care center that accepts children up to age 12. For more information, go to their website www.blessinghouse.org or call 440-240-1851.