Family Enrichment Center Inc

Two small children found locked in their bedroom, nothing to eat and trying to care for each other.  After being removed from their home and brought to Wee Care, they had to be in the same room because they would cry when separated.  What a difference today!  They are thriving, happy children.  Growing and learning every day due to interventions from loving, caring staff at Wee Care.  These children's lives were changed due to being loved and nurtured in foster care and getting the added support of early learning from Wee Care Nursery, part of Family Enrichment.  Through the years, the agency has grown to offer eight programs in the Barren River Area Development District in support of its mission to empower families and prevent child abuse.  Family Enrichment Center has an established history of success and longevity in the Barren River Development District of south central Kentucky.  Mission statement - Family Enrichment Center’s mission is to empower families and prevent child abuse by providing education, social support, crisis intervention, and a safe environment for parents and their children; to promote healthy family functioning through assistance and treatment of the entire family; and to increase public awareness, knowledge and sensitivity toward child abuse and neglect so that full community support and involvement may be enlisted to eliminate this serious social problem.   Our Supervised Visitation Program provides supervised visitation or exchanges for families who may be experiencing custody, reunification, domestic violence, child abuse, and/or other family crises.  This program is a fee-based program based on income. Visitations/exchanges are court ordered or requested by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Wee Care/Respite Childcare strives to provide high quality, affordable childcare to families in Warren and surrounding counties who are at risk for child abuse or neglect.  Wee Care Nursery is a licensed childcare/early learning center that serves children ages six weeks to five years old.  Families must meet a minimum of ten points or two of the following criteria in order to qualify for this service:  history of child abuse or neglect, family crisis, income & household size, referral from social service agency, parent is a student or is enrolled in another retraining program, single parent, or a child with special needs.  Wee Care Nursery also provides free, respite care/drop-in childcare on an available basis. Parent/Youth Education Classes are provided as twelve-week, self-help courses.  Family Enrichment Center uses The Nurturing Program by Stephen Bavolek because the curriculum establishes alternatives to abusive behavior. The program centers on the philosophy that parents can re-learn ways of thinking and behaving through education and replace unwanted, harmful behaviors with new, healthy nurturing behaviors.  Parents and their children have benefited tremendously from the components of the parenting classes as evidenced by post-test scores and self reporting. Parent education classes utilizing the Nurturing Program have been offered at Family Enrichment Center for over 10 years.   Parent Support Group is held the last Thursday evening of the month for parents and other family members raising children. This group is an open-ended, peer-led group facilitated by the parent educator. The purpose of the support group is to offer a safe, nurturing environment that enables parents to express concerns, work through issues, gain insight from others in similar situations, and make up missed parenting class sessions.   The Adoption Resource Program provides services and support to pre and post foster/adoptive families.  Services include a monthly support group held in Warren county, a lending library of over 400 resources, parent training, recruitment of new foster/adoptive families, assistance to the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) in teaching Model Approach to Partnership and Parenting (MAPP) classes, assistance to DCBS in doing home studies, and crisis intervention.  Parents As Teachers (PAT) is an in-home parent visitation program based upon the philosophy that a child’s parent is his/her first and best teacher.  The Parents As Teachers educator provides high-risk parents of children ages prenatal to Kindergarten with personal, monthly home visits. These visits consist of parent/child activities, child development information, health/vision screenings, and developmental screenings.