Centre County Child Access Center

COVID-19 UPDATES

The Child Access Center is working hard to stay up-to-date on the recommendations of public officials regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. We will be reviewing decisions weekly and will provide updates as they are available.

5.27.2020 Updates

As Centre County moves into the Green Phase of the state's reopening plan on Friday it means reopening for a number of businesses, but the directive that remote work should continue as possible has led us to pause and closely consider what reopening means at the CAC.  While the County is moving to green, we have some more work to do to be prepared to bring families back for in-person services in a way that is safe for everyone and therefore will not be moving away from modified/remote visits quite yet.  We are continuing to provide modified/remote services to those who are interested and cooperative (Zoom visits, monitored telephone calls, monitored emails and recorded messages). COVID has at least temporarily changed how services can be provided and the future impacts are still unknown, so we intend to phase back in to in-person services that will include plenty of safety precautions (PPE, cleaning and sanitizing guidelines, social distancing, rotating schedules for families and staff) and plenty of creativity.

As soon as we have everything in place we intend to provide in-person visits, for those whom we feel it is safe to do so, outside on our covered porch.  Parents/guardians will have to agree to our updated policies and procedures which will have some protocols and requirements around COVID precautions and compliance/cooperation will continue to be important in order for services to be able to be provided.  We will only be allowing one family at a time at the CAC and will need to complete a prescribed cleaning/sanitizing routine between each visit. In order for it to be possible to provide services to all of our families visits will be scheduled for 1 hour ever other week in-person with the modified/remote visits available on the off weeks.  Custody exchanges will continue to occur in our parking lot as they have been throughout the pandemic and new requests for services will still be placed on a waiting list.  There are likely multiple phases to follow until we are able to have everyone back to their court ordered schedules in a safe way and we will continue to evaluate the situation regularly and communication any changes on our website and via email. With the ever-shifting nature of the pandemic there is a chance that this will not be a straight line back to a full reopening, but we are working hard to keep families connected throughout this difficult time, are grateful for the ability to do so and appreciative of the flexibility and cooperation of everyone involved.

If you have specific questions or would like to discuss our plans further, please reach out.  While we are still limiting time in the office we are available via email cccac.program@gmail.com and check voicemail regularly throughout the week.