Children's Friend

Family support initiativeduring 2022, there were 209 families who received home visiting services from the early head start program. The family support programs target at-risk families with children between the ages of birth to 3 years living in providence, pawtucket and central falls, rhode island. Home based social, emotional, and child development services, crisis intervention, case management, health and nutrition education, prenatal education, counseling and parenting education are provided to the families in their primary language. In addition to weekly home visits, families participate in center-based activities and support groups offered to both mothers and fathers.head start is a comprehensive child and family development program that promotes school readiness in low-income preschool children. Services include education, health, nutrition, social services and other child and family supports. Parents are involved in their Children's learning and the program helps families in meeting their educational, literacy and employment goals.the head start program ensures that all children are up-to-date with immunizations and that their health needs are being met. Children receive nutritious meals and snacks while participating in the program. Families are linked with resources and provided support in meeting their goals.the organization provides services under the head start program in providence and the blackstone valley area. A total of 902 children and their families received services through the program during 2022.the early head start childcare partnerships support working families by providing a full-day, full-year program so that low-income children have the healthy and enriching early experiences they need to realize their full potential. During 2022, 79 children and their families received services. Child care centerthe agency operates child care centers in central falls, pawtucket, and providence. There were 171 children enrolled in the centers in 2022 and an additional 263 through the summer learning and enrichment program. The pre-kindergarten program provides high-quality pre-kindergarten classes to eligible children. Ride oversees the program. 393 children participated in 2022.professional developmentthe professional development program provides quality training programs open to the community, early care educators, and staff of the organization and our agency partners. Approximately 400 employees and members of the external community and the organization partners participated in the trainings during 2022.foster care/permanency services the adoption/foster care program provides a full continuum of adoption, counseling, case-management, support and educational services for birth parents, children, adoptive parents and adult adoptees. The program also provides foster care placements for at-risk infants and children ages birth to 10 years who are in need of temporary out of home care, through a contract with the state department of children, youth and families. The program also recruits, trains and assists in the licensing of foster parents.in 2022, adoption home studies were completed for oneprospective adoptive families. Foster care services were provided to 67 children, 6 new foster families were trained, 10 families were licensed and 37 previously licensed families remained active, for a total of 47 licensed families.during 2022, the program completed 7 non-identifying background searches for adult adoptees. The families of three pregnant women were provided with pregnancy counseling and adoptive placement assistance as needed. In addition, the program responded to inquiries for information and referrals regarding adoption and foster care related issues.the adoption support and preservation program provides intensive, home-based counseling and case management services to prevent adoption disruption and promote well-being of adoptive families. There were 34 families provided with agency-based support, education groups and respite services. The program also provided training for professionals providing adoption-related services.fostering families provides support services for kinship and foster families. All referrals for services are made through the department of children, youth, and families (dcyf). The goal is to address the needs of foster and kinship families with foster children who are at risk of experiencing removal during the duration of their time while open to dcyf. Services are provided in home, and include but are not limited to: linkage to community resources, court advocacy and case conferencing, intensive case management services, parenting and nursing assessment/intervention/monitoring, mental health assessment and monitoring, and recreational and group interventions. Fostering families provides weekly to bi-weekly visits based on the need of the family and/or child. Services are statewide and can be active for up to 15 months.

Family preservation servicefamily care community partnershipthe organization is part of a partnership of community-based agencies servicing the children and families within the urban core in rhode island. The catchment area includes providence, pawtucket, central falls and cranston. The partnership includes: family Service of rhode island, as lead agency in direct contract with dcyf, Children's Friend and Service, comprehensive community action program, tides family services, the providence center and the socio-economic development center for southeast asians. Each agency has a team that works directly with families.families in the program are at risk for child abuse, neglect and/or dependency or dcyf involvement. Children in the program meet the criteria for sed or have been diagnosed under dsm-iv or dc: 0-3, or are concluding a sentence at the rhode island training school or are leaving temporary community placement.during 2022, the organization serviced 95 families through the family care community partnership. Family child care food programthe family child care food program targets family childcare providers in the core cities of providence, pawtucket and central falls, rhode island; however, it is open to all family childcare providers statewide. Over half of the participants identify spanish as their primary language. There were 171 child care providers that participated in the family child care food program during 2022.

Health and nutrition serviceswomen, infants and children (wic) is a nutrition program that provides: healthy foods, nutrition education to improve family health, breastfeeding advice and support, referrals to doctors, dentists and other community services. Wic helps pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and new mothers with babies under six months old, fathers, grandparents, foster parents, babies, and children younger than five years old.the organization provides services under the wic program in central falls, providence and pawtucket. During 2022, 4,523 children and their families received services through the wic program.the first connections program is a home-based outreach Service intended to promote the health and well-being of mothers and their newborn children. Mothers and newborns, with potential risks for healthy development, are identified by the hospital when the baby is born.the organization provides services under the first connections program in central falls, pawtucket, cranston and parts of providence. During 2022, 512 newborn children received services through the program.the healthy families america (hfa) is an evidence-based home visiting program rooted in the belief that early, nurturing relationships are the foundation for life long, healthy development. Hfa requires that families are enrolled prenatally or at birth and services are provided to families until the child's third birthday.during 2022, hfa provided services to 164 participants and their families. The nurse family partnership (nfp) is an evidence-based home visiting program that aims to improve the lives of at-risk, first-time mothers and their infants. The program pairs these young women with specially trained nurses, who conduct home visits prenatally until the child is two years of age.during 2022, nfp provided services to 273 participants. The organization provides services under the nfp program in providence, pawtucket, central falls, west warwick, woonsocket and newport.project connect project connect is a statewide home-based intervention programs. Project connect is designed to address the problems of substance abuse and mental health. The program works with high-risk families involved in the child welfare system. Families are referred by dcyf and services are tailored to meet their needs. During 2022, 158 families received intensive family preservation services amongst these programs.

Early intervention services families and children with developmental delay and/or risk and children with disabilities between the ages of birth to 3 years. Children receive a variety of services, most in a home based or community setting, from a multi-disciplinary team. There were 474 children and their families that received services through the program during 2022.