Children's of WI - Family Outreach and Support (In Home Visitation and Education)
Emily and daughter, Sadie – single mother working full-time raising her 7-year-old daughter. Sadie attends UWSP childcare. Emily was working a stressful-demanding job with low-pay, new to the Stevens Point area and struggling to make ends meet.
Emily was interested in going back to school so that she could find a better job to provide for her family, however, she wasn’t sure how to do that while working full-time and being a single mother to her daughter. Emily was also looking for effective strategies for managing Sadie’s behavior at home and had some concerns with some autistic tendencies that she was seeing with Sadie both in school and in the home.
By the end of the program, Emily had enrolled with the WIOA program and was getting assistance with transferring credits from North Central Tech to the Academy of Arts University. They also helped apply for financial aid and assisted with covering the cost for the art program. Emily is on track to start in the fall. During the program, Emily found a new job with higher pay, less stress and better hours. Emily was able to get an autism assessment scheduled for Sadie and get her on the right track with the care she deserved.
She continued to use time outs as an opportunity for Sadie to decompress and be in a calm environment after heightened emotions rather than as punishment. Emily used open discussion, feelings charts and chore charts with Sadie at home and understood the importance of giving Sadie a voice to express herself through arts and crafts and engaging activities and child-directed play.
At the time of closing, Emily was looking at purchasing her own home with her boyfriend, who is currently a UWSP student. They were looking forward to a more stable future as home owners and feeling optimistic to where there life was headed.