Collaborative Program ‘Links’ Youth Services
 Boys Town and Heartland Family Service, in a collaborative partnership, opened a new program to assist Nebraska youth and families in Douglas and Sarpy counties May 22.
Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman and dignitaries from the state and partner agencies attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house for the new program called Youth Links, located at 815 Dorcas St., Omaha.
The program will provide services to youth ages 10-18 who have been delinquent or who are status offenders. The program serves as a “triage center” combining evaluation, crisis stabilization and linkage to community services to help youth successfully return to home, school and community. Boys Town, through Home Campus services, will provide care coordination and in-home family services to these youth and their families.
“The innovation is in Youth Link’s comprehensive approach to serving youth in a timely and effective manner with a minimum delay between evaluation and services,” said Pete Tulipana, Heartland Family Service president and CEO. “At the same time, the staff provides outreach and support to the family. This focus on youth and family better prepares both for the youth’s successful return to a constructive lifestyle.”
"This program is a great start for Boys Town’s new strategic initiatives," said Dan Daly, Vice President and director of Youth Care. "It provides a program that deals with children and family needs and allows us to share our effective care coordination programs for the first time in Nebraska, which have been proven across the country. This fits with our new strategic philosophy of providing the right care at the right time to children and allows us to grow what we call our family-based services -- care coordination and in-home family services. All of our sites are trying to grow these programs within our continuum of child and family services."
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