First Crisis Nursery Set To Open Soon In Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City's first crisis nursery is set to open within the next two months, providing a safe space for young children during family emergencies.

The project has been in the works for months, but the founders just started moving into their new space on Thursday.

The remodel is finally complete at the home on Northwest 14^th Street near Miller Boulevard.

Now the race is on as organizers prepare to care for local kids in need.

“We haven’t slept since October pretty much, so we’re ready,” said co-founder Jennifer Roberts.

There are loads of clothes, toys and treats to unpack, the accumulation of donations to a trio of mothers who recognized a problem and set out to fix it.

“Helping families is just something we were already doing anyway. I’ve got an outreach pastor background and love helping kids,” said Roberts.

Their mission is to give parents who have no other options a few hours to themselves. They hope it keeps children from being abused or ending up in DHS custody.

They are now hurrying to get everything in place to open as soon as possible.

“We just now were able to start the childcare licensing process, so we’re excited about that, but we’ve got probably about a month out, so we’re thinking either end of April, first of May when it will be open for families,” said Roberts.

Parents who need the service will call ahead to see if there is room available. The crisis nursery will only be able to take ten young children at a time to start and will eventually raise its capacity.

The founders still need help buying new furniture and are hoping to partner with restaurants to provide healthy food to the kids and the volunteers who are watching over them.

“This is 100% community funded,” said Roberts. “We are literally working off of everything that everybody gives us from the community.”

Sustaining support will be critical once the nursery is up and running. For the latest list of needs and ways to donate click here.