Blog

Making children feel safe is one of the most important tasks of every therapist who works with and for Family & Children’s Place. It’s a key part of treating child victims of violence, abuse, neglect and helping them recover, but that moment a child accepts, even welcomes the help and support still inspires us all.

A case occurred recently at our Shively-based supervised visitation center where a mother is working with Family & Children’s Place to regain custody of her daughter, Sharon. The child is four and has been going through visits at the center with her mother, under the watchful eyes of an agency therapist. Now, though, Sharon is ready to transition to visits in her mother’s home, which will be supervised by another F&CP staffer.

Recognizing the need to establish a relationship and to nurture and build trust for the upcoming visits, the home-based worker, Caroline, met with Sharon to introduce herself and to talk with her about how the visits to and with her mother would work – helping her get comfortable with the transition and in-home visits.

Another agency staffer, Shannon, witnessed the meeting and said of Caroline, “she was amazing with the child. Her level of compassion was truly strong and it was great to see that little girl lose her nervousness just by talking with her.”

Caroline met the mother, too, separate from Sharon, and the mom said she was very happy to meet Caroline and very comfortable having her assist with getting herself and her daughter’s life “back on track.”

“I had a wonderful time monitoring this family and thought everyone should know about a family’s positive story from visitation and home base workers,” said Shannon.

Helping protect and heal children and families. It’s not just our mission; it’s the agency’s DNA.