Healthy Families Florida serves struggling parents

Healthy Families Florida serves struggling parents
Posted: December 24, 2010 - 12:00am
Florida Times-Union, Guest Column

The greatest gift anyone can receive during this joyous season is the love and support of family.

Most of us take our families for granted.

But what if you had grown up in a family where your parents did not know how to provide the strong foundation that would help you to succeed in school and become a contributing member of society, much less equip you to become a good parent yourself?

Parents who haven't had the opportunity to learn effective parenting skills through their own childhood experiences are ill-equipped to meet the challenges facing today's families.

Although they want to be good parents, they recognize they don't have the basic knowledge and skills needed to handle the job.

Some parents who face these challenges have the opportunity to voluntarily participate in the Healthy Families Florida home visiting program.

Through this nationally accredited and proven program, parents at high-risk for child abuse and neglect learn how to recognize and respond to their babies' changing developmental needs, use positive discipline techniques and cope with the day-to-day stress of parenting in healthy ways.

Parents are also encouraged to take personal responsibility for setting short and long-term goals like enrolling in GED or job training programs and finding stable employment.

One grateful mom said that before entering Healthy Families, "I was on welfare, taking advantage of every government program available. Since I have been in [Healthy Families], my husband and I have been able to get jobs, our own apartment and a better handle on our bills.

"Also, I have been pushed to get my kids to their health appointments."

Family support workers also screen moms for depression and their children for developmental delays, educate parents about the importance of immunizations and well-child check-ups and link them to medical providers.

In addition, they teach parents how to access community services and identify and address potential safety hazards in and around their homes.

Family plays an essential role in fulfilling the emotional and physical needs of children, which lays the foundation for all future emotional, cognitive and social development.

A family is the most important unit of society because it is the child's first, and most important, "school" where important skills and abilities critical are - or aren't - developed.  FULL STORY