Who we are…

Two well-respected and well-established human care agencies in Nebraska, Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska and Nebraska Children’s Home Society, joined together to create Right Turn®.  Our collaborative program provides help to families who have adopted or entered into a guardianship in the state of Nebraska.

Right Turn is a statewide program, established in 2009 in response to post-adoption and guardianship issues that arose from Nebraska’s original Safe Haven law. Intended to protect abandoned infants from being left in unsafe situations, Nebraska’s original Safe Haven law allowed children up to age 18 to be left at safe sites without legal persecution of the parent(s). Of the children dropped off at safe sites across Nebraska, 75% were in Nebraska’s foster care system or in adoptive or guardianship homes. The unintended circumstances that arose from the Safe Haven Act made it clear that adoptive and guardianship families were struggling, frustrated and facing difficult challenges with their children and did not know where to turn for help.

Designed to be a referral-based service for post-adoptive and guardianship families, Right Turn quickly learned that families needed more. In response, our six Core Services were developed: Permanency Support Services, Respite Care Connections, Parent2Parent Network, Mental Health Connections, Training, and Support Groups and Family Activities.

Effective December 1, 2014, Right Turn expanded and now serves ALL Nebraska adoptive families – international, domestic, private, step-parent and adoptive foster families.

Following the initial growth and response to families’ needs, Right Turn received the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families 2011 Adoption Excellence Award.

Our Philosophy

The essence of our organization exists in our commitment to children and families. We strive to provide the support and connections necessary for adoptive and guardianship parents.

If you are in need of our services, we strongly encourage you to learn more about us so you will feel comfortable working with us. After learning more about Right Turn we are confident you will want to engage with our organization.

MISSION

To provide family-driven post-adoption and post-guardianship services.

VISION

All post-adoptive and post-guardianship families will have access to high quality, family-centered support throughout the ages and stages of their adoption and guardianship journey.

Our Core Beliefs and Values

  • Adoption is forever.
  • Families are the expert on their lives.
  • Providing service for adoptive and guardianship families is an area of specialty.
  • The parent-child relationship is the single most important vehicle for helping children heal.
  • Parents are part of the solution and not to be blamed for their child’s behaviors.
  • Adoption is a lifelong process and families formed by adoption need support, education, and training along the way.
  • We believe that the entire adoption kinship network is critical to a child’s wellbeing.
  • Families have a right to know all available information about their child’s past.
  • The need for a child to receive treatment outside the family home may be essential and is not a failure in the adoption or guardianship

Our Commitments

  • We will do everything in our ability to give families what they need to stay together.
  • We will listen and provide honest, competent, family-centered, strengths-based services that meet adoption and guardianship families where they are at.
  • We will honor family culture and history.
  • We will collaborate with families and take a team approach toward the mutual goal of helping a child heal.
  • We will advocate for adoption awareness across Nebraska.
  • As an adoption program, we have a responsibility to ensure adoption-competent mental health providers and other professionals working with adoptive families are available in our communities.
  • We will strengthen Nebraska’s adoption community by connecting adoptive families to one another.
  • We seek to minimize the inherent loss in adoption.
  • We will support adoption and guardianship families in establishing healthy relationships with their children.
  • We will assist adoptive parents in gaining the necessary education and training related to adoption and other common topics.
  • We will support and encourage a family’s decision to have openness with birth families.
  • We will support families in honoring their child’s past and support parents in talking with their children about adoption.

The Collaboration

Right Turn® is a collaboration between Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska and Nebraska Children’s Home Society.

Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska (LFS) is one of the largest and oldest human care organizations in the state. LFS provides human care to thousands of people within three core competencies: Children Services, Community Services, and Behavioral Health. Each program within these areas helps build and strengthen families – and accomplish the LFS mission of “safety, hope, and well-being for all people. On any given day, LFS has open case files on over 2,000 children alone – including foster care, sexual abuse therapy, and trauma treatment. Community Service provides outreach and support to international populations. Only one in ten clients are Lutheran.

Established in 1883, Nebraska Children’s Home Society focuses on educating children and families, facilitating adoption, supporting foster parents and children, and walking beside families through every need and stage. Since its earliest days, children have been their inspiration and central priority.

Because of the Nebraska Children’s Home Society …

  • Members of the adoption circle (adoptive parents, birth parents, and adopted persons) receive guidance, counseling, and support in their lifelong journey.
  • Women and teens facing the crisis of an unplanned pregnancy have information and support in developing a plan for parenting or adoption.
  • Abused and neglected children find safety and permanency in nurturing foster and adoptive families.
  • Parents overcome barriers and nurture their children’s growth and development.
  • Children begin school ready to learn.
  • Families are formed through foster care and adoption.
  • Youth set and achieve educational goals and become confident young adults.

Mission: To provide safe and loving care to children of all ages.

Vision: A safe and loving family for every child.

Services: Adoption | Foster Care | Family Support | Early Childhood Education

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services provides the funding for Right Turn.