A new direction

EVERETT – The Board of Directors at Deaconess Children’s Services announced this week it will re-examine the mission and goals of the agency for future success. Meanwhile, Deaconess Children’s Services will no longer offer services to children or their parents effective on Nov. 1, 2011. The change of direction follows severe reductions and loss of donations, grants and state referrals over the past three years.

“Deaconess Children’s Services has been hit hard just like many other non-profits around the nation,” President Felicia Freeman said. “We are working hard with other organizations to take over our current programs so clients will continue to be served.” The challenge has been that each program offered by Deaconess is unique and unduplicated throughout the County.

For more than 25 years, Deaconess Children’s Services’ IMPACT program has been working to keep our community’s most vulnerable children, those at risk of abuse and neglect, safe by empowering parents to accept their role as their child’s first and most important teacher. Parents learn skills to protect their children, interact with them positively and encourage their growth and development preparing them for school and the experiences of childhood.

Since 1996, the TEEN PARENT ADVOCACY (TPA) program has been serving pregnant and parenting Snohomish County teens (ages 13-20) and their children from birth to age five. Promoting positive parenting skills, healthy life choices and continued education, TPA empowers young parents to become self-sufficient, nurturing moms and dads. The agency works in alternative schools addressing the myriad of challenges teens face once they become pregnant or are parenting. Deaconess Children's Services has been able to boast a 0% to 7% repeat pregnancy rate, down from the national average of 50% within 2 years following the birth of a first child to a teen parent. The agency also boasts 96% graduation rates among the teen parents they serve, up from the 33% who graduate nation wide.

For nearly 20 years, LATINOS UNIDOS has helped to educate, empower and support Spanish-speaking parents in their efforts to provide their children with the basic necessities of life in Snohomish County. The program has offered two weekly Spanish-speaking support groups, one in Monroe and one in Everett as well as outreach to connect families to their neighborhood, each other, emergency services and provides help interpreting citizenship and immigration paperwork.

“Child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention treatments are very personal services, requiring highly educated, skilled , trained and dedicated employees who deserve to be paid for their amazing and transformative work,” Freeman said. “We believe the needs of children still merit attention, so this agency’s Board of Trustees will be meeting with as many stakeholders as possible to develop sustainable services for children during these critical times when children need so much, and resources are so limited.”

Deaconess Children’s Services has put the children of Snohomish County first for 114 years, beginning in 1898 as Snohomish County Orphanage. There children found food for their tummies and a safe place to sleep at night. There, children found forever families. During the Great Depression, many Everett families brought their children to Deaconess Children's Services to be cared for. Those children remained between 18 months and 2 years, while their parents sought work and found a way to care for their children again. As society changed, so did Deaconess Children’s Services, and in the 1950’s, they taught life skills to children with disabilities, behavioral disorders, mental health challenges, and intellectual challenges, preparing them for some level of independence as they grew up. In 1980, the agency very nearly closed when funding sources were cut again. Group home services were discontinued, and the agency hired the very able Karen Bachelder to work with various community stakeholders to design services for children that were sustainable. Deaconess Children's Services began offering child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention services in 1982, and has continued those services uninterrupted until now.

Who Works for Children? I work for Children! (part deux)

By Chanelle Carlin, M.A. Soc. Sci.

Vice President of Programs

The mission of Deaconess Children's Services is to transform the lives of children throughout the Pacific Northwest by breaking the cycle of child abuse and neglect. As an agency, we do this primarily by working primarily with parents for the sake of their children, while always keeping each individual child at the forefront of every thing we do.

As we mentioned last time, there is one program at Deaconess, where the staff and volunteers get to work directly with the children participating in our programs. Theirs, by far, is the most fun and energetic program we have here and yet many of you never see them (unless your under 3 feet tall, of course). This next person we'd like to introduce to you is one without whom the Child Development Program staff and participants would be very hungry. 
 
Let me introduce you to Jeanne...
 
As part of all of our evening parent education classes, Deaconess offers delicious, nutritionally balanced home cooked meals for parents, their children, Deaconess staff and volunteers.  Those meals would be not possible without the dedication, of Mrs. Jeanne Crisp. 

Like all Deaconess volunteers, Jeanne has varied interests and specializations.  She holds a Master's Degree in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and works as the Director of Technical Services and Facilities Development at Sno-Isle Libraries.  Her hobbies include cooking, baseball, bridge, reading, gardening.

When we asked why Jeanne was willing to cook for Deaconess' participants, she said "my family doesn't want to eat as much as I want to cook, so it's a great outlet for my love of meal preparation." 

We are so glad she enjoys cooking too.  Jeanne prepares meals and cooks for our Incredible Years parenting classes.  Thank you, Jeanne!

(L-R) Anna King, Child Development Coordinator, Jeanne Crisp, Volunteer

and Stacey Pfeiffer, Volunteer Coordinator

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Chanelle Carlin has over 25 years experience working with children and families both in the United States and internationally.  Chanelle earned her Bachelor's degree in History from Portland State University in Oregon and her Master's Degree in Social Science from The Open University in Great Britain. Chanelle is also very active in her community. She serves as a Children's Commissioner on the Snohomish County Children's Commission, as a member of the Everett Rotary Club and Laureate Gamma Mu chapter of Beta Sigma Phi, as a Camp Fire volunteer and as a member of the county, state and National Associations for the Education of Young Children.

Deaconess Children’s Services is a champion of hope and opportunity for children and their families, especially those in greatest need, empowering them to BELIEVE in a life full of possibilities. For more than 100 years, Deaconess has been transforming the lives of children in the Pacific Northwest by breaking the cycle of child abuse and neglect and putting Children First! . To learn more, visit us at www.deaconesschildren.org, on facebook at www.facebook.com/deaconesschildren or call 425-259-0146.