As part of the expansion grant recently awarded to Northern Panhandle Head Start, the agency is partnering with the Family Violence Prevention Program at YWCA Wheeling to serve the residents of the emergency shelter and their young children.
Infants and toddlers at the shelter, as well as pregnant women, will be served by the Early Head Start division, which is designed to promote healthy outcomes for pregnant women, enhance the development of very young children and promote healthy families, according to Marlene Midget, NPHS executive director.
"Our Early Head Start program professionals work very closely with parents/caregivers to strengthen their understanding of early childhood development, proper nutrition and healthy development of not only the child(ren) but the entire family unit," said Janice Barnett, Early Head Start manager. "Another objective for the program is to ensure that pregnant women are linked to health providers to meet their prenatal health care needs as well as post-natal care.
"Our hope is that having this new program available to families with children (at the shelter) will provide a lasting, positive effect during an unfortunate time in their lives," Barnett said.
She added that the comprehensive services will not stop with the families leave the shelter.
Shelter officials met with Northern Panhandle Head Start employees for a training session at the YWCA Wheeling recently in order to bring employees on board with what domestic violence victims and their children go through and what to watch for in terms of harassment or stalking by the aggressor in the relationship. An abusive partner may hang around a child care center in order to have contact with the child or the partner picking up the child.
"Domestic violence is all about power and control, and using the kids is a way to get that power and control," Trish Flanigan, deputy director of the Family Violence Prevention Program, told participants in the training session.
Head Start provides free, comprehensive, early childhood services to eligible families with children ages birth to 5 including services to pregnant women who reside in Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall and Wetzel counties. For information, call 304-233-3290 or 877-732-3307 or visit www.npheadstart.org.
The Family Violence Prevention Program offers an emergency shelter, advocacy, supervised visitation, parenting and life skills classes, transitional housing and a 24-hour confidential hotline, 304-232-2748 or 800-698-1247.