Causes:
Child Abuse Prevention,
Crime & Law,
Domestic Violence
Mission: The relief nursery combines a comprehensive, family support program and a therapeutic early childhood program designed to serve high-risk lane county low income families of children under six years of age who have experienced child abuse and/or neglect and/or who are at risk for child abuse and/or neglect. The model is unique in its delivery of comprehensive, integrative, and individually responsive services including therapeutic early childhood classroom experiences, home visits, special education services, parent education and support, referrals to community resources, mental health services, alcohol and recovery support services, family events, nutritious meals, and support for other basic needs such as transportation to events, food, and clothes, as well as crisis response and respite.
Programs: Therapeutic early childhood program is a family based program providing classroom time and home visits serving approximately 192 infants, toddlers and preschoolers who have suffered abuse and/or neglect, or are under extreme stress at home. Children receive 6 hours of classroom time per week and teachers do monthly home visits providing parent education and support. Classroom time is focused on supporting the child's social and emotional needs and on encouraging communication and social interaction. Children are supported by counselors and community volunteers. We maintain a maximum ratio of 1 teacher to 5 children. Additionally, children receive 2 usda approved meals per day.
the outreach program serves approximately 237 families and 318 children/year. The outreach program provides "front-end" intake, enrollment and crisis response for families initially contacting the relief nursery. The approach is strength-based and creative, offering choices and support to families in a compassionate and strength-based manner. A flexible strategy is utilized, providing timely services for families with multiple issues who are seeking support for themselves and their children. Intake workers offer a supportive response and provide information, as needed about the relief nursery and other community resources. In addition to intake, resources, and referrals, the outreach program provides respite care, home visits, and access to other relief nursery services such as family literacy events, mental health and other specialized programs. Outreach workers work with the families to determine if enrollment in the therapeutic early childhood program meets their needs and the needs of their children.
accessing success provides alcohol and drug recovery support services for approximately 225 families per year. These families have substance abuse issues and/or have been impacted by substance abuse. The unique aspects of our accessing success program include peer support interventionists who are in recovery themselves. These interventionists provide mentoring, gender specific support for parents, and lead other accessing success program activities. Other activities include a "parents for recovery" support group, transportation to and from aa and 12 step meetings, and activities promoting an alcohol and drug-free lifestyle. The approach is strength based and creative, offering choices and support to families in a patient and compassionate manner. A flexible strategy is essential in meeting the needs of families with multiple issues and overcoming the many obstacles interfering with recovery success.
mental health services: counselors provide individual, adult, child and family counseling services that include assessment, treatment plans, and monitoring/documenting progress. The mental health service follows a family systems model based upon the belief that working with the entire family is the most effective means to help the client achieve treatment goals. Strong focus is placed on parent-child attachment and relationships, emotional regulation skills, behavior management strategies and resiliency, and traumainformed therapy. Approximately 83 children and families per year were served. Parent education: in additional to the integration of informal parent education and support into all aspects of the relief nursery, formal parent education classes and parenting activities are offered and are accessed by approximately 29 families/year. Parent education classes are offered in english and spanish in a variety of formats in order to meet the needs of families. Transportation support, light meals, and childcare are provided in order to insure access to events and to remove barriers and challenges for parents. Healthy families: healthy families is a home-visitation program for first time parents based on healthy families quality assurance standards that are compatible with the relief nursery program and is embedded within our program with healthy families, families having access to other relief nursery services. The health start program serves approximately 115 families per year includes regularly scheduled home visits offering parent education and support with a focus on enhancing the parent-child.
