- Strengthen the parent-child relationship so that when the family leaves Haven House the progress they made while in the program will continue.
- Help the parents be constructively involved in their child’s social and academic development.
- Address the child’s social/behavioral issues through Youth Group, Holy Listening, and DV classes. Peer to peer classes are run to improve social skills, group activities help children learn to share, and work with one another. DV classes help the parents deal with their anger and any emotional issues that are may be keeping them from blossoming into young adults.
- Prepare the children for school.
- Encourage the parents to continue their progress to self-sufficiency.
HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM
About the Early Childhood Program
We started the program in early in 2018 when we acquired a 450 sq. ft. “Learning Center” where the indoor part of the program will be provided. Our initial emphasis was to show the parents how to be more effectively involved with their child’s development.
We began our program with a 6 week parenting class focused on parents of infants and toddlers. The primary focus was on meeting infant milestone, bonding with their baby, learning why babies cry and how to cope with them. We followed up that program with a 6 week class on Love and Logic taught by HillTop, a local non-profit beginning in November 2018. Both of these programs were well attended and appreciated by the Participants who attended. We plan to repeat both of these programs at least twice in 2019 and each year thereafter.
While we were providing the parent focused classes, we engaged a retired teacher to perform a study to give us a clearer picture of what an appropriate Early Childhood program might look like for the population we serve. That study, which was effectively completed in December of last year, 2018, provided us with a plan for moving forward, as outlined below.
In January 2019 we began a phonics program for the 4 and 5 year old preschool children called First Steps, developed by CR Success Learning. This program is being led by our Executive Director, Rose Verhuel, who previously taught the program for 5 years in Denver. We will continue this program through 2019.
