As one of the first private nonprofits to implement holistic family treatments in the state of Minnesota, SSFNC pioneered programs based on our belief that child abuse and neglect are treatable and preventable. Our multicultural programs help establish and nurture child safety, stability, and growth by involving children and parents as active participants. We build on the strength of each family member to reverse negative behaviors and interrupt cycles of behavior that impede child development and family unity. Each year we serve 75-100 families, and all services are free of charge, allowing families to participate regardless of their income. We provide transportation for school and family events as well as nutritious meals.
Our Center Based Early Childhood Education Services provides a therapeutic toddler and preschool experience to 48 children at any given time. Children learn social skills, learning readiness skills, problem solving skills, and play skills; they learn to resolve conflicts and are helped to identify and express their feelings. Individual play sessions and play therapy, occupational and speech therapy are also available on-site and during school hours. Each family is assigned a Family Worker who provides weekly home visits, resource referrals, parenting education and support, and crisis management. Weekly Family Days encourage parents to share in their children’s classroom activities and helps them form additional support systems and learn important parenting skills to break the cycle of family violence and support their children’s healthy development.
In our Home Based Services, Family Workers provide intensive weekly home visiting services to approximately 20 families at a time. These visits focus on discipline techniques, family support, advocacy and referral, healthy parent-child interaction, and community recreation and resources. Working together, each family and its Family Worker determine what the family needs. Weekly Family Nights for parents and their infant, preschool, and school-aged children are held eight months out of the year.
Fathering for Success serves fathers and male caregivers whose families are enrolled in either Center Based or Home Based Services. Staff work collectively with the fathers to provide home visits, weekly Dad’s Nights filled with father-child activities and group time, and community referrals for employment services or other specialized needs.
The following is a success story about one of our recent client families:
Lois* is a single mom who came to us after choosing to leave an abusive relationship with the dad of her five children. Along with his siblings, Andrew had witnessed her abuse, but unlike them, he had been forced to participate in it. Eventually, Lois found the strength to leave her partners, mostly to rescue her children from the ongoing trauma. Lois and her family were initially enrolled in Home Based Services, but when an opening in Center Based Services became available, we transitioned the family and enrolled Andrew in the preschool and his younger brother Louis in the toddler class.
Lois worked hard to provide for her family and to facilitate her own and her children’s recovery from the trauma of prolonged and violent abuse by her partner. She became actively involved in our programs, attending Family Day regularly, being available for frequent home visits, and maintaining great school attendance for her kids. At school, Andrew was quiet and fearful, and had difficulties building relationships with his peers and his teachers. He was mistrustful and randomly aggressive. Teachers worked closely with him to help him feel safe and build trust. They observed that he wanted to develop friendships, but his social skills were poor and he was easily frustrated with unsuccessful attempts.
Andrew was often aggressive towards his mom, but with staff support Lois came to understand it and worked with us to help him change his behavior. He began weekly Play Therapy and stayed in our preschool for another year, giving him more time to mature socially and emotionally. He stopped hitting his mom during Family Day and seemed to grow in his interest in making friends. Andrew still has issues to work through and the family still receives therapy. This was a family that we needed to discharge as a result of the new length of stay policy imposed by Hennepin County. We have referred the family to other services and are hopeful that Lois will continue to get her own and her children’s needs met. Andrew still struggles, the deep effects of violence and emotional abuse have left their mark, but he is bright and eager for growth and he has a mom who was brave enough to leave the abuse and wise enough to seek support, guidance, and therapy for herself and her children.
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of our clients.