Great Falls nonprofit Peace Place gives families free respite care

Great Falls, Mont. — Peace Place in Great Falls offers free respite care programs for families raising children with special needs.

The nonprofit provides several programs designed to support children while also giving parents time to step away and recharge. Its services focused on accessible and high-quality care at no cost to families.

Executive Director Louisa Liberatelli-Dunn has been with Peace Place for seven years and runs the after-school program. She explained that working with children with special needs kept her committed to the organization.

"Meeting the kids and getting to create a safe haven keeps me coming back every single day and their happy smiling faces really do work for me," said Louisa Liberatelli-Dunn.

Peace Place's weekly respite offerings includes a morning program for children ages one to five. That program helps kids build social, play and basic academic skills.

The organization also offers an after-school program for children ages five and up along with a preschool prep program.

Liberatelli-Dunn said those programs helps children and gives parents a needed break when child care is hard to find for children with higher support needs.

"When you have a special needs kid or a child with a more extended need level, it’s very difficult to find a babysitter. So, by giving parents a break, they get to recharge, take a breather or get coffee," said Liberatelli-Dunn.

Board Chair Gloria Braucht said she has brought her son to Peace Place since 2019. She shared that her son had developmental delays and that the organization helped both of them.

"He has grown exponentially since starting here. He had a lot of aggression, developmental delays. And now he’s the life of the party. As a parent, Peace Place has been an absolute, phenomenal support system for me. I guess that’s where the true respite comes in because it’s given me a break," said Gloria Braucht.

Braucht said serving on the board gave her a chance to support other families through the same kind of help she received at Peace Place.

"It means everything. Because I want to be able to help people in the same way that Peace Place has helped me. And I want to be able to share everything Peace Place has to offer with other parents and other kids and make sure that they get all the resources and benefits and the community and the support that myself and my son have had," said Braucht.

If you're interested in learning more about Peace Place, find the link above the article.