‘Our Place After School’ program helping kids with special needs and their parents

HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) - With school getting underway this week for most kids in the area, lots of after school programs are also starting back up.

One such program is the ‘Our Place After School Care’ program and it helps kids with special needs learn skills that help them at home and in the public, such as managing money, cooking, cleaning and making crafts, while their parents work.

The program was established by Executive Director Adeline Johnson in 2022, when she had a child born with special needs and she was having trouble finding places for her to go after she became a teenager. She then found other parents who were having the same struggles and together they started the program.

”This program was created in order to help teens with disabilities learn some life skills, some academic skills and social skills because all of these things are things they need extra help on,” Johnson said. “These are kids, who often don’t get invited to after school activities, so this is the place where they get to do that.”

Johnson also said that one of the kid’s favorite activities is arts and crafts because they get to sell them as gifts to the general public and make money through their on-sight gift shop called the ‘Freedom Factory.’

In addition to being a safe space for kids with special needs to learn, they also serve as a way to help parents have a place for their children to go while they’re at work.

Johnson said the parents who have children in the program are grateful for the opportunities they and their kids are getting.

”Our families, who are a part of this program are so appreciative of the program because every time you think about when school is not in session, they can’t go to work,” Johnson said. “Think about your day. At 3:30, your kid is done. What are you doing from 3:30, until you get off work? That’s what we’re here for.”

Johnson also said she has hopes the program grows more in the future in order to help parents get funding from the state and for the kids to learn even more skills with the program.

”Our hope for the expansion of the program is that we can have a full-time person here, who’s able to answer questions for parents, help them get through the state paperwork, help them get the state funding and services that they have the right to have,” Johnson said.

To learn more about the program, visit the ‘Our Place After School Care’ website.

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