Family Connections offers a variety of resources to Burke County families with children prenatal to five years of age.
Family Resource Center: The Resource Center is open Monday through Friday, 8 am - 4:30 pm, for parent-guided play experiences. A monthly calendar details events that focus on science, foods and cooking, movement and exercise, creative expression through art and music, and child development information. The Resource Center is a wonderful place to participate with your child as he explores new learning opportunities.
Personal Visits: We have three staff members who are certified parent educators: Lora Fredrickson, Diane Jones, and Joy Hemstreet. For qualified families, personal visits are offered once or twice monthly by parent educators trained in the Parents as Teachers (P.A.T.) model in the home or our resource center. This model recognizes that all families have strengths and that parents are the child's first and most influential teachers. Visits combine a hands-on activity for parent and child together in addition to informational handouts designed to promote development in language, social, motor, and intellectual areas. Children participating in personal visits receive developmental screenings annually.
Teen Component: The teen parent component offers support to pregnant and parenting teens in and out of school. Support is offered through personal visits and group meetings by staff members utilizing the P.A.T. model. Staff members are available each week for onsite referrals, consultation and individualized visits in each county high school.