A little nonprofit in Florida is changing the lives of parents and their children
“I was so, so alone…,” Annetta Serrano remembers.
She just moved back to the U.S. from Italy by herself with no job, eight months pregnant and a baby she knew had Turner Syndrome, a disorder in which a female is born with only one X chromosome, leading to a series of serious complications and a shortened lifespan.
After having her little girl, Lydia, a month early, Serrano’s doctor recommended she seek help. At the time, Serrano had become very depressed. Her daughter would never sleep; she didn’t like to be touched; she barely responded to her name. “It was so hard for me to accept. I never felt any love reciprocated,” said Serrano. She found the Healthy Families program run by Families First, a 26-year-old nonprofit that serves families facing a variety of challenges.
Families First arranged counseling for Serrano, and taught her about child development. The nonprofit also noticed early on that Lydia failed to reach milestones. Suspecting she also suffered from autism, she was set up with a behavioral specialist and several intervention programs by the time she turned six months.
“I can’t tell you how much Families First has helped, especially for a single parent with a kid with a genetic condition and autism. It’s been such a huge support. A really wonderful experience,” said Serrano.
Two and a half years later, Serrano is a project manager at an online marketing company. She’s buying a house in Boca Raton, FL, and Lydia is thriving and interactive – high functioning on the autism spectrum.
“It really seems like a fairytale,” said Serrano, “if it weren’t for Families First, I don’t know where I’d be.”
Families First of Palm Beach County, FL has served some 37,500 children and parents since opening its doors 26 years ago.
On an annual budget of $4 million, the organization provides programs to ensure healthy births, physical and behavioral health, and family strengthening for parents and their children from 0 to age 18, with the bulk of their work focusing on helping kids five and under because of the long-term benefits of catching issues early in life.The nonprofit aims to change the odds for families by guiding them past challenges such as domestic violence, substance abuse, homelessness, physical and mental health issues, and trauma – all issues that can affect their ability to raise their children in loving, stable homes. Families First takes a holistic approach that involves every aspect of their clients’ lives, including navigating housing, finances, transportation, physical and behavioral health and child care, school and juvenile systems and legal aid. They also teach parents about child development, and how to build meaningful, healthy relationships with their kids.
Of the 235 pregnant, high-risk women the nonprofit worked with last year, 100 percent of the babies tested negative for HIV within six months. In addition, 120 children remained with relative caregivers and out of foster care, 841 children remained free from abuse and neglect and with their families, 106 women (82 of childbearing age) received better health care, 42 families (86 children and 62 adults) accessed supportive housing, and 18 families (37 children and 32 adults) attained comprehensive mental health services in its first year of operation. Without Families First, many of these women, children and families would not have received these critical services.
The preventive and intervention services that Families First provides save hundreds of thousands of public dollars on everything from emergency shelters and homeless services to prenatal and medical care to hospital days to foster care, and more. The nonprofit’s ultimate goal is to help people become or return to being productive, self-sufficient members of society.
“We believe parents want what is best for their children and will take ownership for making whatever change they believe is necessary.” said Roxanna Childs, Families First’s deputy director. The organization helps families do so by guiding them through the array of services offered so that the family can choose those services that are specific to their needs.
People come to Families First through referrals from clinics and pediatricians, word-of-mouth through the community, school system and sometimes the child welfare system. The nonprofit also runs an outreach program that targets women in need of prenatal care, going into places like bars and housing projects, and finding those with a high risk for or history of drug abuse, domestic violence, or test HIV positive.
“I found no meaning in my life. I felt so depressed. I felt so much less in this country,” said Lucy Fernandez, who learned about Child First, a Families First program, while waiting for prenatal care at a Palm Beach County Florida clinic.
Fernandez left behind three young children in Guatemala and came to the U.S. while pregnant due to community and family violence. She hoped to meet her husband in the U.S., but he decided he wanted to separate. Fernandez suffered further adverse events on her trip to the U.S. which added to her extensive history of trauma. Fernandez moved in with her sister when she arrived in Florida in October, discovered she suffered from high blood pressure and kidney issues that can lead to premature labor, and started losing her motivation to live anymore. Then, she called Families First.
The nonprofit sent in a care coordinator and developmental clinician who started seeing Fernandez weekly, trying to bring her to terms with her trauma and how that could affect her relationship with her baby. At the time, Fernandez hardly acknowledged she was having a baby. They also bought her a crib and baby clothes, started going with her to some of her doctor’s visits, and helped her access Medicaid and food stamps.
“I thank God every day; they’ve been angels sent by him. They’ve helped me so much, helped me to see the world differently. I care again. I have so much to live for, for my kids,” said Fernandez less than a year after starting to work with Families First.
She named her baby girl after her Families First care coordinator, and Fernandez’s life couldn’t look brighter. She is madly in love with her little girl, reunited with her husband, hopes to bring her three other children to the U.S. in the future, and aspires to start her very own snow cone business. She also vigorously practices good parenting techniques like talking to her baby, putting her on her stomach so she learns to crawl and walk more quickly, and even reads to her infant, which she at first thought was crazy.
“I’ll never stop learning from [Families First]. They’ve taught me so much,” said Fernandez with a big smile.
Families First strongly believes the earlier its team engages with children and families, the better the long-term outcome. By helping families change their circumstances, they change the trajectory of those children and break cycles thus affecting generations to come.
“The health of the parent-child attachment within the first three years of life affects how the brain develops. When a child is traumatized, there’s emotional healing that can be done to reverse the effects, which otherwise can be long lasting,” said Childs, the deputy director and a clinical therapist who has run programs for Families First for 18 years.
While some stress plays an important part in healthy child development, it triggers physiological responses that at high levels for long periods of time result in toxic stress. Toxic stress, which is brought on by things like neglect, maltreatment or severe poverty, weakens the architecture of children’s brains. It can stunt neural connections, and lead to lifelong problems in behavior, and physical and mental health. It also takes a particular toll on learning abilities, especially in higher-order skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving, reports Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child. Researchers can now even “see” the effect of toxic stress on the brain using scanning technology, and understand the neural connections most important for language and social development prove especially sensitive in toddlers, according to Data Book 2013 by the Urban Child Institute.
Early intervention changes outcomes for children who have experienced toxic stress or trauma. Accurate assessment, early intervention and education ensure that children with a disability reach their maximum potential.
“Alexander didn’t talk until he was four. He never slept, refused to eat, never wanted to be touched, didn’t like people, and he acted like a squirrel that drank a Starbucks cappuccino. He was crazy, jumping around, throwing stuff,” said Francesca Banes of her young son, Alexander.
Alexander was referred to the Children’s Behavioral Health Collaborative, another Families First-involved program, due to his behavior. The nonprofit’s therapist guided Banes, her husband and son to a school evaluation and a neurologist – both of whom confirmed that Alexander was on the autism spectrum. The nonprofit also helped the parents understand the diagnosis and make a plan for ongoing services, including occupational and speech therapies through his school.
The therapist worked with Alexander on setting up routines at home – sitting at the table to eat with the family, listening and following directions, recognizing and expressing feelings, facing and overcoming fears, increasing communication skills, and social skills. Work also focused on improving his behaviors in social situations, such as stores, parks, the beach, etc., and how to calm himself down when frustrated.
In a year and a half, Alexander transformed from a child unable to speak who hid from people to asking his mother how to spell every new word he hears and politely introducing himself to people he sees at the grocery store. He reads at grade level, adds and subtracts, and has made a close group of friends.
“Families First has helped change Alexander’s life. It has helped change our family’s life,” said Banes. “I’m just so grateful.”
Families First of Palm Beach County relies on public and private funding and donations to continue its successes.
Make a donation and find out about volunteer services at Families First here.