BCFS gets first-time parents off to a Great Start

Posted: 3/20/08

BCFS gets first-time
parents off to a Great Start

By Haley Smith

Baptist Child & Family Services

SAN ANTONIO—Baptist Child & Family Services seeks to equip first-time parents to get off to a “Great Start”—and reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect.

Great Start—a free family education program—uses home visitation to share parenting information.

“We really try to focus the program around self-growth, not just parenting, since we know you cannot grow in a parenting role until time is taken to work on self,” said Patricia Heredia, BCFS Great Start case manager.

Rosalie Cardona lost a daugher to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. She says Great Start helped her regain confidence in her parenting skills.

Rosalie and Lawrence Cardona, who signed up with the program in March 2007 and continue to take advantage of its services, recognize their positive progress can be accredited to that focus on nurturing self and then nurturing others.

After losing their first daughter to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, the Cardonas were very discouraged and anxious regarding their next parenting experience.

“Patricia, our case manager, really helped me with my confidence by coming to our home and working with me one on one. She encouraged me to get outside the house and helped me accomplish my goals, while helping my husband and me find time alone together,” Rosalie Cardona said.

“I think so many people are emotionally and physically beat down by parenthood, but are scared to reach out and ask for help,” her husband said. “Hearing the stories of others and knowing we’re not alone makes all the difference.”

Great Start works with five San Antonio hospitals, as well as with related fairs and events in the community, to identify parents who want to learn more about the program. In addition, hospital staff and other community agencies recommend the program to families they believe may benefit from the individual services provided by Great Start.

Referrals are then made to BCFS, Catholic Charities and the Family Service Association. BCFS targets first- time mothers who make up about 37 percent of those referrals. Of the mothers enrolling in the program, the agency has a 100 percent success rate of families remaining safe—defined as having no substantiated incident of abuse or neglect.

The Texas Department of Family & Protective Services and the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County fund the program as a preventative service, meaning clients with open Child Protective Services cases cannot participate. Families with open CPS cases are referred to the Precious Minds, New Connections program, a parenting education program also offered through BCFS.

Great Start typically provides services to each family for about six months. During that time, surveys are used to identify family strengths and protective factors present in the home that prevent abuse. Surveys also assess parental attitudes, behaviors and knowledge. Results then are used to develop specific goals identified by the family to address gaps in knowledge and provide support.

The program uses the Nurturing Parenting Curriculum published by Family Development Resources to coach families in the values of love of life, respect for all living things, structure and discipline, as well as the value of laughter, humor and play.

“Case managers actively work to strengthen empathy in our participants,” said Donna Fleming, BCFS Great Start program director. “Through our services, we would like to help rekindle the joy in parenting.”

“I encourage case managers and clients within the program to remember that change is evolutionary,” Fleming said. “The program is not a magic pill; however, it is tool that can help parents move from being less to more nurturing.”

To find out more about the Great Start program, visit http://www.bcfs.net/GreatStart.