The Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) is pleased to announce a new research collaboration with the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery. This work will be funded by a grant from the Sauer Family Foundation. The mission of the Sauer Family Foundation is to invest in strengthening the well-being of children so they thrive in their families and communities.

The Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery (GMCN) has been in operation since 1983 with a mission to end child abuse and neglect and create strong, healthy families. The GMCN provides free, voluntary services for parents who face barriers such as unemployment, homelessness, medical or mental health concerns, poverty, domestic violence, or other difficult situations. The agency works to strengthen families by connecting them to resources, caring for their children during difficult times, and setting goals that promote stability and make the relationship between the parent and child stronger.
The GMCN’s core services include a 24-hour crisis helpline, crisis counseling, connection to community resources to include mental health services, home visiting, and respite care for children under the age of 7 years old. The respite service offers up to 72 hours (including overnights) of residential care for parents to take a break and address their crisis or other needs without having to care for their children. They make no judgements on what the parent defines as a crisis.
CASCW will support GMCN by conducting a family needs assessment that provides detailed descriptive analysis of the families and children served by the GMCN (with a focus on respite services). Throughout the project, CASCW will also provide program evaluation technical assistance to help coach GMCN staff in applicable program evaluation activities.
CASCW is excited to partner with this long-standing anchor organization serving Hennepin County residents that works to support strong and healthy families. CASCW will be integrating information learned from parents and GMCN staff with Minn-LInK data to advance study efforts. Minn-LInK projects are developed and carried out with a cross-system perspective in mind – linking longitudinal data from multiple systems to answer questions about the effects of policies, programs, and practice on the well-being of children and families in Minnesota.
“We are particularly excited about this opportunity as it not only allows us to partner with such a wonderful organization with similar values to our own, but CASCW will also be able to support GMCN with our mixed methods research and program evaluation expertise. We look forward to talking with families and GMCN staff and tapping into existing Minn-LInK data to answer important questions about the experiences of families who utilize GMCN’s respite services in our family needs assessment.”
CASCW Assistant Executive Director Kristine Piescher
CASCW operates as a central connector that brings together different experts and organizations to tackle a range of complex issues impacting child welfare. We partner with universities, businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies to pool our knowledge, resources, and skills. By working together, we achieve a variety of research goals more effectively than any single organization could on its own.
If you have questions or are interested in a partnership, please reach out to CASCW Assistant Executive Director, Kristine Piescher ([email protected]).