Healthy Families Impacts the Whole Family
Polly had been an active drug user when she found out she was pregnant. Scared and unsure about what to do, Polly was recommended to Healthy Families by her doctor. She quickly began to clean up her life. She stopped using drugs, and began to prepare for her son to arrive.
Polly’s sister Sarah moved in with her so she could help out with the baby. Sarah would regularly join her sister when she met with her Family Support Specialist (FSS). Sarah was immediately surprised and impressed at the things her sister had learned and how she interacted with her son. “The main thing I noticed,” Sarah told us, “was how much Polly had changed! She was a completely different person than she had been a year ago.”
When Polly first found out she was pregnant she had no idea how to take care of a baby, she had no resources, but she was determined to learn and be a great mom. With the help of her Family Support Specialist she began to learn positive parenting skills, she received resources she needed in order to provide for her child and the family quickly began to look forward to the home visits from Polly’s FSS. Through Polly’s decision to join and be a part of the Healthy Families program she was able to clean get, learn how to be a mom and raise her son in a healthy environment.
Her son is now 12 years old. Polly is still clean to this day and Sarah’s life was impacted from this whole experience as well. Sarah and the FSS began talking during the visits. Their FSS mentioned that Child & Family Resources was hiring for another Family Support Specialist. With a background in early childcare education, Sarah decided to apply for the position. Seeing how much her sister’s life had changed by being a part of the Healthy Families program, Sarah wanted to be able to help other people in the same way.
To this day, Sarah is a Family Support Specialist and has been able to help many new moms and families. She is thankful for the program but more importantly she is thankful for the support from community members like you that enables these programs to continue to positively impact people’s lives, just like her sister’s.