Santee Sioux Family Resource Center

Combining a Child Advocacy Center and a Services and Support Center, the Family Resource Center is a collaboration between Native American Santee Sioux Nation and The Nebraska Children and Families Foundation. The project was designed by University of Nebraska students in PLAIN (a design-build initiative parallel to FACT) with Actual Architecture  Co. as the architect of record. The building is located on the Santee Sioux Reservation in rural northeast Nebraska where approximately 800 people live on 173 square miles of land. The tribe struggles with high rates of addiction and domestic abuse, and the Center provides a positive, private, and safe space for those affected by these circumstances.

The small building houses services related to family healing and forensic investigations of children who may have suffered sexual and physical abuse. It contains spaces for supervised family interaction and foster parent training. Private interview and observation rooms provide an environment for abused persons to share their experiences with authorities. Conceived as a pair of interlocking squares that formalize a program of reunion, one side of the building houses private examination rooms with a discrete entrance and the other, a large room and kitchen for family reunion. Service spaces and a restroom separate the two sides and provide an acoustical buffer.