New Feature: The Family Corner
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Every
month, we will highlight at least one topical issue and provide ideas and
support for families. In last month's newsletter we talked about
Bullying, and provided some helpful hints to help parents protect their
children. This month we are looking at the safety of children and how we can
create safer homes, focusing on some of the dangers of serious accidents that can
be prevented with a little advance thinking. 
From
the "Kids Can't Fly" campaign, a few thoughts......
In response to the ongoing tragedy of children falling out of
windows, the Kids Can't Fly campaign educates communities about window falls
prevention and promotes the use of child safety window guards. Falls
are the leading cause of injury to children age five and under. It only
takes seconds for a fall to occur. Window falls can cause serious
injuries, yet they can be prevented. By combining education and engineering,
we protect children from dangerous falls.
Kids Can't Fly Safety Tips
- Lock all
unopened doors and windows
- Keep beds, furniture,
and anything a child can climb on away from windows
- Open windows
from the top, not from the bottom
- Install
child safety window guards
- Be sure
children are always supervised
- Aluminum or
steel bars with a maximum four inch spacing that are installed in the
window frame.
- Designed and
tested to withstand 150 pounds of pressure.
- Recommended
for the second story and above and for the first floor if the window is
over 12 feet high.
- Not required
by law in Massachusetts but are recommended in homes with children age
six and under.
- Cannot be
substituted with window screens, which are designed to keep out insects
and bugs but are NOT strong enough to keep a child from falling out.
- Releasable
or removable from the inside without the use of separate tools, a key,
or excessive force.
- Can be
installed on all windows, including those on which fixed window guards
cannot be used.
- Recommended
by the Boston Fire Department because they have a release feature that
allows escape in case of an emergency.
- Fixed
(permanent) guards or window locks can also be used to restrict the
window openings to less than four inches. One window in each room needs
to be free of these devices in order to allow for emergency escape.
- Child safety
window guards are NOT the same as burglar/security bars. Security bars
are wide enough to allow a child to slip through and should not be used
as a safety window guard. Child safety window guards are not designed to
protect against intruders.
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Whitinsville Clinic Hosts Asperger's Panel
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April was Autism Awareness Month, and with support from the
Community Partners for Health CHNA 6, on April 29th, Family
Continuity hosted a Panel discussion entitled "What is Aspergers?".
The panel was facilitated by Adam Midgette Director of the Mercy Centre School
and shared the insight and experience of parents, providers, and individuals
with developmental disabilities. It was well attended and extremely well
received, and provided important information and perspective to Aspergers
Disorder and our growing understanding of its characteristics and treatment. Click on this link to see the fact sheet and presentation outline.
This is the third in a series of presentations and panel
discussions that Family Continuity will be presenting throughout the summer and fall. Events to come will focus on Children's Mental Health Awareness,
ADHD and Suicide Prevention. You can find more information about the series through
our Information line, 1-866-219-3320, or by contacting the Whitinsville Clinic
directly at 1-508-234-4181.
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Summer Activities Needed for SAIL Program
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Remember
back to when you were 17 or 18 years old...perhaps
high school was over and you were off to college, or maybe you were just
starting out on your first full time job. If you were lucky, you weren't
alone. Hopefully you had family and friends to ease the way to independent
life, to co-sign for your first auto loan or apartment, to have a place to
return to on holidays, or just to check up on you and make sure you were
alright. Most of us wouldn't have made it through these years without
some sort of help, because as independent as we thought we were, we were never
fully prepared for life alone, out there in the "real" world.
Not
everyone is so fortunate. Children who may have been removed from homes due to
abuse or neglect, and who may have grown up, bouncing from foster home to
foster home too often find themselves at age 18 without any of these supports
to fall back on. Furthermore, they may not have received the knowledge and
experience from trusted and responsible adults to even know how to be a
grown-up in the world. There are a surprising number of these youths out there,
struggling to make it, but too often, all alone. But there may be help out
there.
In
cooperation with DCF, Family Continuity's SAIL program is a pre-
independent living program housing both male and female at-risk clients between
the ages of 16 and 22. These are youths who do not have viable families, but
instead are on a track for what is called "independent
living". Residents at the SAIL program work with the staff to
develop and improve upon their social and living skills. While at SAIL, residents
work to accomplish their own goals, ranging from completing high school,
attending college, obtaining and maintaining employment, to learning to manage
their finances, maintain bank accounts, find housing, as well as many other
important independent living skills. Family Continuity is very proud of
this program and the accomplishments of its staff and youths.
We
could use your help..... 
The
residents at SAIL receive support and work hard to overcome past traumas in
order to work towards a successful and bright future so they deserve to have
some fun while they are at it. The team at SAIL has been discussing with
residents activities that they would like to participate in over the
summer. So far, the residents have expressed interest in kayaking/ canoeing
trips, day trips to an amusement park, trips to the movies, and beach
days. As we all know, these activities cost money and with finances being
as tight as they are, it makes it difficult to facilitate these kinds of
activities. The SAIL team is reaching out to people or any organizations
that would be willing to donate reduced tickets, free passes or funding to
help us involve our residents in some healthy recreational activities. And as always, suggestions are always welcome.
For
more information about the program, and how you can help, check out our website
at www.familycontinuity.org or
call our Information line at 1-866-219-3320.
Thank you in advance for helping
our clients stay safe and happy throughout the summer months.
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Volunteers Needed
| You don't need to be a professional to
change the lives of families, children, elders, and other of your neighbors.
Family Continuity provides services at almost 20 sites around Massachusetts,
and each one offers opportunities for volunteer work that can make an important
contribution. We are looking for men and women for volunteer work in our hub offices
to support the important work that we are doing in the community by performing
light office work.
For additional information,please call our
Information Line at 1-866-219-3320.
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Real Stories | |
Real Stories are submitted by clients who want to share the success they had thanks to the support and services provided by Family Continuity.
Mary's Story
Sometimes life can throw you a curve and
luckily for me and my three children, we were introduced to Family
Continuity's C.A.S.S.P. (Child and Adolescent Service System Program)
to help with the effects of that curve ball.
Three years ago, after 15 years of marriage, I became a single
parent. I had to leave my children's father due to his addiction and
abusiveness in the relationship. I rented an apartment and had to work
two jobs because there was no child support.
Six months into our new apartment, I came home to find that we had
been broken into by my ex-husband, who destroyed half of our home.
Moving back to my parent's home was a temporary safe solution, but we
lived in an over-crowded situation where none of the kids had a room or
any of their belongings during the summer of 2007.
I had to keep a positive attitude telling them not to worry; that we
would have our own place before the school year started. My words were
not enough. I could not afford to keep up with dancing lessons or
football or all the extra confidence building activities that the kids
enjoyed. Up until this point, my 11 year old son was an outgoing kid
who made friends easily but he was depressed and just about stayed in
every day during his summer vacation. My girls were 7 and 5 and they
were upset but they were young enough that I could distract them with
going to the park and beach.
This is about the time I was introduced to Family Continuity and
their C.A.S.S.P. I could not believe there was an agency out there so
willing to help me get my children back on track. Read the Rest of the Story.
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Family Continuity's Mission Statement:
Supporting family success in every community by empowering people, enhancing their strengths, and creating solutions through partnerships to achieve hope, positive change and meaningful lives.
Agency Values: Family, Community, Advocacy, Leadership, and Change Treatment Philosophy, founded on the belief that positive change is always possible:
* The most effective treatment provides a continuity of care, acknowledging that connected, relevant supportive services to clients/client families promote recovery, stability, self advocacy and permanency in the midst of changing needs.
* Therapeutic change occurs in the context of a dynamic treatment partnership between clients and helpers that is founded on choice, respect, honesty, and a shared responsibility for and participation in the development of solutions.
* Effective treatment is empowering and strength-based, recognizing that all clients possess resources for change and that change is possible when these resources are utilized.
* Creating meaningful lives starts with identifying goals and connecting that to individualized, flexible and creative treatment planning that incorporates a client's family/community relationships, culture, and context. |
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