Children's of WI - Strong Start Home Visitation
Kevin and Sarah’s family became involved with the Strong Start program through CPS. Both parents were struggling with addiction and previous domestic violence, and their son Jamie was placed out of home as a result. The home visitor attended supervised visits with Kevin, Sarah and Jamie and while Jamie was achieving developmental milestones there was a significant amount of chaos between Kevin and Sarah which was impacting their ability to provide a loving and nurturing environment for Jamie.
This chaos started to impact their visits because supervised visitation workers were not able to be safely present in the home. The home visitor was able to build strong relationships with both Kevin and Sarah and they both opened up to her about their needs, not just as parents, but as individuals who had their own significant barriers to fully parenting Jamie. The home visitor had private, individual conversations with both Kevin and Sarah and supported them to find within themselves the strength to address their own barriers to heal in order to fully parent Jamie. Sarah was able to take the brave step to engage with in-patient rehab services and Kevin enrolled in therapy and 12-step programs.
With the support of the home visitor, Kevin has been able to re-engage with supervised visits for Jamie and has shown so much growth and consistency in his recovery that he is now on-track to be fully reunited with Jamie in the next few months. Both Kevin and Sarah have expressed immense gratitude for the home visitor’s support and skillful listening, providing them with perspectives and tools to improve their outlook on their future ability to be a family with Jamie.