Shaheena Haque, Director

The Exchange Club of Vicksburg Child Abuse Prevention Center, through a grant award from the Mississippi Department of Human Service’s established the Family First Resource Center. The aim of the Center is to assist families, schools and communities of Warren and Claiborne Counties with education, support, and resources to promote healthy families. The vision of the CAP Center is one in which each child lives in a home that provides a nurturing environment and an elevated quality of life, and a community committed to promoting healthy families and preventing child abuse. The Center provides support and support services to parents, particularly new parents, which will enable them to be more effective parents. It also provides child and family advocacy, education, information to the community, and promotes the safety and well being of children and families. The services are designed to increase the strength and stability of families. The Center's public awareness efforts address how parents under stress can help themselves.

The Family First Resource Center, being a community-based program, accentuates the need for collaboration, coordination, and teamwork of services throughout the community to all families. It facilitates partnership among other local agencies to support and implement needed services to families. The Center is instrumental in collaborating and networking with other resources in town to give families a holistic approach toward their situation.

The Family First Resource Center assists in raising the parents’ sense of importance, diminishing their feelings of isolation, enhancing their parenting skills, and helping parents in securing needed resources for themselves. The Center's programs also assist parents to know their child, recognize their child as an individual, be attentive to their child's feelings, and enjoy their child.

The aim of the Family First Resource Center is to empower families as strong and healthy families to produce a prospering community. The services are preventive and strengthening in nature. The Center programs are designed to provide emotional support, knowledge, and information to families so that they can be ushered and guided into a positive direction where there will be no need for intervention by the courts. All services are offered at no charge to the families.

Hours of Operation: Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or as needed.

Services provided through the Family First Resource Center include:

Parent Aide: A comprehensive program for "at-risk" parents. It offers in-home services to help abusive and neglectful parents transform their unhealthy pattern of behavior toward their children to one that will enable them to live as a healthy, functioning family unit.

Some families benefit from more intense intervention than others. Home visitation programs are designed to provide one-on-one support to parents during a crisis or time of need. The goal of this program is to transcend families into a lifestyle of self-reliance, thereby preventing child abuse and neglect.

Parents "at risk" have a need to experience a relationship in which their dependency needs are met, and where they are accepted as worthwhile individuals. They need to establish trust with other people and be able to achieve independence. They need to achieve confidence in themselves and to trust their ability to make decisions for themselves and their children. A Parent Aide provides this type of therapeutic and nurturing relationship. Relationships between parents and Parent Aides are informal and long-term, generally lasting between 12 and 15 months. A Parent Aide is a mentor, a friend, a teacher, a support system for the family, and ultimately, someone who works to enhance the strengths and to assist in empowering the family.

Parent Education: The Center's Parent Education Program is based upon the belief that good parenting is a learned, and not inherited, behavior. It is designed to provide parents of families with the tools for appropriate disciplinary methods, the ability to be aware of the needs of the children, the capacity to improve communication skills within the family, and the capability to learn developmentally age-appropriate expectations of the children. These techniques not only improve family management practices, but also increase the parents' involvement in their children's life, thereby protecting them from getting involved in delinquent behaviors.

Parent Support Group: Being a parent is one of the hardest jobs in the world. It places great demands on a parent's time and patience. At times, it can seem overwhelming, thereby leading to frustration and stress. Abuse, neglect, indifference, and the lack of parenting are leaving some children emotionally crippled, self-centered, and alienated from society. The Parent Support Group consists of parents needing a bolstering of their parenting skills. It offers emotional support to parents facing the challenge of child rearing. Topics chosen for discussion arise from the concerns and interest of the group. Support between meetings is provided via telephone networking. Parents meet other parents who are struggling with the stresses of parenting. They listen to each other without passing judgment. The meetings are confidential, so the parents do not need to worry about their home life being discussed in public.

Supervised Visitation: is designed to foster participation of the non-custodial parents in the lives of their children. With this program in place, the non-custodial parents are able to visit with children who are minors when court orders state that visits may only occur in a supervised setting. This program enables the non-custodial parents who are going through some sort of family crisis (separation, divorce, domestic violence, child maltreatment, etc.) the opportunity to maintain contact with their children. The main objective of this program is to maintain the emotional and physical safety of the children. The Visitation Coordinator is always present to observe the visit, and if needed, to provide support, set limits, or make suggestions. In every instance, the coordinator assists parents in understanding the importance of both parents' continued contact with their children after divorce. Play activities are provided and parents are encouraged to bring appropriate food to share with their children.

Resource Lending Library: A Parent Training Laboratory of resource materials containing books, parent workbooks, tip sheets, professional manuals, and videos on child abuse/neglect, discipline, child development, coping skills, positive parenting skills, conflict resolution and other relevant topics is available to be utilized by families, volunteers, concerned parents, college and high school students, and representatives from other social service agencies. The library is updated with new and current information on a regular basis.

Crisis Intervention/Information/Referral: The Center also provides Crisis Intervention services to Warren County residents. Consultation service on positive parenting techniques, the recognition of child abuse, and proper reporting procedures are provided to area professionals and concerned citizens. The Center's 24-hour telephone line is frequently utilized as a "child abuse hotline." Crisis intervention and/or appropriate referral services are provided to the numerous non-client families who contact the Center either via the telephone or by coming to the office. The Center provides information and referral service to the families with disability or special needs. This hot line provides crisis intervention, guidance, prevention, and referral services. Consultation service on positive parenting techniques, the recognition of child abuse, and proper reporting procedures are provided to area professionals and concerned citizens.

Resource Directory: The Center is currently working on publishing an up-to-date community resource directory. This directory will enable the families to locate all the available resources they need in the community.

Public Awareness: Community Awareness and Education activities and programs are provided to local organizations, schools, clubs, and other interested groups. Education on the different types of child abuse/neglect, prevention activities, child development, parenting, and related topics are offered to the community. In-services on the recognition of abuse and the reporting laws are provided to schools, day cares, and other groups interested.

National Child Abuse Prevention Month Awareness: The Center is the leading agency in the county that annually coordinates and implements the National Child Abuse Prevention Month of April. The mission of the Center is to promote public awareness of child abuse problems and prevention strategies.

Family Assistance: Limited emergency assistance is available through the Center. This includes the provision of clothing, furniture, household supplies, and other items as needed and limited financial assistance. The Center continues to publish a family's "needs list" and attempts to match donations with requests.