Recognizing the shortage of foster homes for children needing to be placed outside their homes, in 2004 the Sisters established a licensed emergency foster care home and supported two sisters (Sister Jan Ihli and Sister Mary Beauclair) to be licensed as foster parents and to serve in this ministry which continues the long established work of the Sisters caring for children.

The Presentation Sisters began St. John’s Orphanage in Fargo in 1897. In 1960, the large orphanage building was replaced with a campus (Villas Nazareth) consisting of cottages and a building to house administration, classrooms, support services and a chapel. As foster care replaced group placement of children needing a home, the Villa Nazareth buildings were used for a variety of services—care of emotionally disturbed children, delinquent girls placed by court order and as residences for developmentally challenged persons.

One of these cottages, Nano’s House, is the emergency foster care site. The purpose of Nano’s House is that of all emergency foster care homes--  to assure the children’s safety and to provide for their physical and emotional needs in the face of the trauma of removal from their homes. Children from birth to age 18 are served.  

The length of stay depends on each child’s situation. If possible, children are returned to their own homes when the crisis which occasioned their placement is resolved. If it is unlikely that they can return to their own home within about a month, they are placed in long term foster care. The average stay at Nano’s House is 3-6 weeks.



Sister Jan Ihli