Programs and Services

Overview

Through home visits, educational opportunities and resource development, the DRU/M Healthy Families Program brings special instruction and support to parents in their natural environments. We also provide important supportive services, including advocacy, parent support, professional consultation and workshops on topics related to pre-natal care, child development, appropriate parent-child interactions, life skills development and economic empowerment. Since founded, we have provided services to over 500 families in the targeted communities. We currently make over 2,900 direct service visits per year, complemented by over 600 supportive service contacts each year. Our services are designed to holistically address the needs of the parents in order to support their transition from pregnancy to parenting. We help our families by providing them with information on steps that they can take to have healthy babies. We then continue to assist them over time in order to ensure that the family has the necessary skills and resources that will move them to self sufficiency. This proactive approach supports the program’s mission to aid families in their efforts to transition healthy babies into healthy preschoolers who are ready to learn.

Community Outreach

The Community Outreach is one of the major components of the Program’s support to families. Our staff of well trained and dedicated family support workers visits the home and provides comprehensive services that support the development of the family unit in order to ensure a positive outcome for the unborn or young child. Specific services include:

Health Support:

• Ensuring that the prenatal mother bonds with her unborn child and that they both have proper medical services
• Assisting parents with obtaining medical providers and insurance coverage for the remainder of family
• Providing access to mental health specialists evaluations and referrals
• Providing access to public health nurses
• Supporting parents in following the recommended immunization schedules and maintaining the appropriate records
• Providing child development assessment

Family Support

The Family Support Program offers information, consultation, resources and referrals to the parents in order to provide them with the necessary skills to positively impact their lives and the lives of their children. We help families navigate through their options, maximize their choices and support them in the decisions they make. Some examples of our Family Support activities include:

• Parent support, education and advocacy; also, through the parent support group, networks of support are formed among parents
• Positive parenting workshops and training
• Referrals for resources such as GED, housing, employment counseling and for evaluation, if necessary, when there is an apparent developmental delay
• Healthy Relationship counseling and training
• Creative literacy and learning playgroups where parents form a network of support among other attendees as they observe their children at play and interacting with other children

Self Reliance