Monday, October 10, 2011

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.

1 comment:

  1. Truly a loss to the Everett community and to Snohomish County. It saddens me greatly and my hope is that other agencies are able to assist those who Deaconess will no longer be able to help. My prayers are with the staff during this very tough transition.

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