SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2018
from 1A
core prevention tool in accor-
dance with its 2010 reauthoriza-
tion.
Indeed, an analysis of studies
by the Children’s Bureau of the
U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services determined that
robust parental education has far-
reaching implications for not only
families, but entire communities.
The brief said, “…parent edu-
cation has a ripple effect that can
resonate far beyond its original
small group, helping parents to
develop into the next group of
leaders in parent education.”
In practice, successfully edu-
cating parents can help mothers
and fathers acquire and imple-
ment protective factors such as
knowledge of child development,
parental resilience to adverse situ-
ations and relationship skills with
their family and community.
One Florence organization fill-
ing this need for education is the
Pregnancy and Parenting Center
(PPC), a nonprofit program offer-
ing classes and mentoring for par-
ents both before and after child-
birth.
Classes involve video lectures
covering an array of parental con-
cerns, including how to handle
temper tantrums and potty-train-
ing. After classes, clients meet
with a PPC peer advocate to dis-
cuss the lessons learned and may
even be assigned homework on
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CHARM TRAIL
In addition to classes, PPC’s
peer advocates offer a supportive
environment for those in need
emotionally.
“Even though they’re called
‘advocates,’ they’re really more
of a trusted friend — someone
you can tell things to,” said Deb
Vander Bogart, PPC’s board treas-
urer. “It’s about a bigger support
group, especially if [parents]
don’t have support at home.”
Crenshaw takes pride in the
organization’s ability to offer con-
crete support as well as a welcom-
ing environment.
“Once here, they find they can
get some emotional support in
addition to diapers,” he said.
Domestic Violence
While education and emotional
support go a long way to ensure
responsible parenting, some prob-
lems are too pernicious for a few
classes to rectify, particularly
when it comes to violence.
Bob Teter, executive director at
Siuslaw Outreach Services
(SOS), has seen his fair share of
domestic violence cases. Among
roughly 300 SOS clients who
have been victims of domestic
abuse in the last year, 22 were
minors, while 104 youths total
were affected by some form of
abuse.
In managing these problems,
SOS is unique among local
resources in that its staff are
“mandated non-reporters,” mean-
ing they are not allowed to report
an incident without a client’s con-
sent. The Violence Against
Women Act of 1994 protects SOS
clients’ identity and this legal
assurance of confidentiality goes
a long way in securing victims’
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safety.
“A lot of times people will
refuse to report they are a victim
because they’re fearful of retalia-
tion or they’re fearful of other
people finding out,” said Teter.
Distrust of authoritative sys-
tems and fear of punitive meas-
ures also keeps many from seek-
ing assistance. SOS provides an
advantageous option for people
unsure of their situation.
“A lot of what we do is sitting
down and helping them under-
stand their options,” said Teter.
Additionally, SOS staff are
trained advocates who can be cre-
ative in their approach, unbound
by bureaucracy, and are thus able
to personalize solutions on an
array of issues including senior
abuse, rent assistance and legal
aid.
As organizations like SOS may
offer support services for people
already in need of aid, Teter feels
preventative methods start with
the community and personal rela-
tionships.
“It’s got to start right here, with
our next-door neighbors or the
person down the street,” he said.
Community Factors
Weaving this intricate fabric of
social cohesion demands an
investment in fundamentals. In
particular, communities with
active youth programs are vital to
providing stability for new gener-
ations and engendering virtuous
cycles.
Upriver, the Mapleton School
District has implemented a com-
bination of initiatives to better
connect youths to their communi-
ty.
One of which, Beyond Me, is a
service program which commits
students to on- and off-campus
projects such as beach clean-ups,
bake sales and tree planting. Only
in operation since last year, the
program has already seen success
and logged a great deal of experi-
ence hours for students.
“Last year, we did 3,359 hours
of community service,” said Terri
Johnston, the Service Coordinator
for Mapleton’s programs. “And
that’s with a student body of only
maybe 70 kids.”
The program operates through-
out the district and has become
something of a required curricu-
lum in Mapleton High School. To
graduate, students must serve at
least 50 hours per year and, by
their senior year, will have
acquired a number of “soft skills”
such as customer service and cash
handling to ease their transition
into adulthood.
“It promotes teamwork, leader-
ship and camaraderie. It’s just a
win-win situation,” said Johnston.
Johnston also coordinates
Mapleton’s Youth in Transition
program, a partnership among the
University of Oregon, Vocational
Rehab
and
the
Oregon
Department of Education. In addi-
tion to the skills learned in
Beyond Me, students in the Youth
in Transition program are set on a
career path through training and
personality tests.
“The idea is, by the time they
graduate, they have an idea what
they’re going to do,” said
Johnston.
While programs like these can
benefit all, they are especially
useful safety nets for children
growing up in troubled environ-
ments as they decrease risk fac-
tors and provide opportunities for
personal growth.
“We’re creating a safe place for
students to go, building relation-
ships with them … and giving
them confidence, too,” Johnston
said.
90by30 Projects
Among the organizations in the
Florence area committed to stem-
ming child abuse, none may be as
dedicated as 90by30, a University
of Oregon-based initiative to
decrease child abuse in Lane
County 90 percent by 2030.
Suzanne Mann-Heintz is the
regional co-chair of the non-prof-
it. She believes firmly in the old
adage that it takes a village to
raise a child.
“If you are a working person
and … there’s nobody to take care
of your kid, that puts that child at
risk,” she said. “Without that soci-
etal support, if you can’t call on
somebody, then the child is in
jeopardy.”
Decreasing the number of chil-
dren in jeopardy and increasing
societal support is no small task.
Mann-Heintz uses the analogy of
a river to explain 90by30’s
approach.
“There’s these children floating
downstream in the river — these
are the children who’ve been
abused and neglected,” she said.
“Some of them you can pull out of
the river and help and some of
them you can’t.
“The 90by30 project is going
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the topic.
As parents progress through
lessons, they earn points that can
be redeemed for concrete support
items such as diapers, formula or
clothing.
Joe Crenshaw, president of the
PPC Board of Directors, pointed
out that these items are not held
hostage to the lessons, however.
“Would we give them what we
have without them even having
taken the classes if it came to
that? Yes,” he said, but stressed
the importance of committing to
parent education. “It’s just a better
way to help everybody involved.”
-
Solutions
F LO E N C
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Make a personalized keepsake from your
travels to Florence
Fun weekend activity for families!
Great for visitors who want a
keepsake of their time in Florence!
Pick up your bracelet and signature charm
at a Trailhead for $5.
Then visit Charm Trail locations around Florence to
add charms for $2 each to complete your bracelet.
Trailheads:
Siuslaw News • Florence Area Chamber of Commerce
Driftwood Shores • BeauxArts Fine Art Materials & Gallery
or Periwinkle Station
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240
HOURS
Is your family prepared?
If an emergency happens in your community,
it may take emergency workers some time to reach you.
You should be prepared to take care of yourself and
your family for a minimum of 240 hours.
Get your emergency car kit started with these essentials:
❑ Always have at least one half tank of gas
❑ First aid kit
❑ Class ABC fi re extinguisher
❑ Radio and fresh batteries
❑ Nonperishable food in coffee can
❑ Bottled water
❑ Tool kit
❑ Blankets or sleeping bags
❑ Short rubber hose for siphoning
❑ Jumper cables
❑ Waterproof matches and candles
❑ Refl ectors and fl ares
❑ Flashlight with fresh batteries
❑ Paper and pencil maps
❑ Towel, plastic bags, medications
This message brought to you by the West Lane
Emergency Operations Group. www.wleog.org
IDENTIFY • PREPARE • SURVIVE
7 A
back up the river to find out why
the kids are falling in. And then
based on that information, try to
keep them from falling in in the
first place.”
To do this, 90by30 conducts
surveys, compiles data and
employs a series of preventative
programs in coordination with
local groups.
“If there are preventative fac-
tors in place in the community, it
can reduce child abuse,” Mann-
Heintz said. “It will reduce child
abuse.”
One of these preventative fac-
tors is the Welcome Baby Box
program. Slated to start in July,
the program will see 40 boxes dis-
tributed to parents in the commu-
nity. The boxes contain “basically
everything a parent needs to get
things going with a child,” said
Mann-Heintz.
Essentially baby starter kits,
the boxes will include clothing,
toys and even hand-knitted items
made by members of the commu-
nity. Moreover, the box itself dou-
bles as a crib.
In tandem, 90by30 also distrib-
utes a resource notebook, which
includes infant information on
such topics as car seats, vaccina-
tions and local resources for those
in need of support. If the
Welcome Baby Box is the starter
kit, the resource notebook serves
as the accompanying instruction
booklet for child-rearing.
Another 90by30 program,
Roots of Empathy, seeks to devel-
op children’s “emotional literacy”
in the classroom.
Under this Canadian-based
program, an infant and parent
visit elementary school class-
rooms once a month while an
instructor guides the interaction
between students and the infant,
teaching children to reflect on
their own feelings and the feel-
ings of others.
“Babies are perfect for this
because there is no veil,” Mann-
Heintz said. “There’s no sub-
terfuge about their emotions —
it’s just right there.”
The program will debut this
September in both Siuslaw and
Mapleton elementary schools.
Empowering Parents
Support programs and preven-
tative measures like the ones
above certainly give credence to
the idea that it takes a village to
raise a child. Providing the social
scaffolding that enables children
to thrive depends on community
members rowing in the same
direction.
However, like all social move-
ments, diffusion of responsibility
can play its role and individual
contributions may appear to be
just a drop in the bucket.
Dr. Jim Waterman, a Florence
resident and PhD holder in psy-
chology, agrees on the importance
of social cohesion, but challenges
folk wisdom that places all impor-
tance here.
“For a kid to have enough
sense of self and self-confidence
and emotional stability, it doesn’t
take a village, it takes one per-
son,” he said.
Waterman, who served as
Director of the County Mental
Health Department in Kern
County, Calif., worked in a
human services capacity with a
demographic not unlike Florence.
Particularly in cases of chaotic
households burdened by problems
like alcoholism, Waterman saw
the deep damage inflicted, but
also the influence one person can
have in redirecting lives.
“Kids grow up with predictable
kinds of insecurities and problems
from those kinds of families,” he
said. “But kids make it because a
lot of times there was a person
who was there for them.”
Doubtless, both communities
and individuals play significant
roles in empowering future gener-
ations.
Strong community bonds pro-
vide the opportunities to put that
one person who can make a dif-
ference in contact with a child in
need of direction.
In this sense, support and pre-
vention programs are one in the
same. Addressing vicious cycles
may be more about improving
upon individual structures than
completely breaking them.
Regardless of one’s station,
taking personal responsibility for
one’s own trajectory allows
access to spaces for improvement
and obligates extending those
improvements to others.
“The nature of life is that we all
are responsible to take what
we’ve got and do better,”
Waterman said. “Everybody
needs to improve upon the parent-
ing they were subjected to.”