More Success Stories from Center for Family Success

Positive outcomes and productive, healthy lives are goals for clients of the Center for Family Success. Here are stories from recent months detailing the progress of our clients through partner programs offered at the Center.

Natasha’s story

Three-year-old Amanda’s* 22 year-old mother Natasha was referred to the Center for Parenting classes, coached parenting time and ongoing parent support, as well as employment counseling, NA meetings and basic necessities in March 2005. Amanda was taken into care because of Natasha's criminal justice involvement.

Natasha has successfully completed the 48 hours of Parenting Inside Out class and is currently engaged in coached parenting time. Her daughter, Amanda, is enjoying the Center, the park and library books—all a part of her mother’s goals for coached parenting time. Natasha also completed the Anger Management class at the Center and is looking forward to the Parent Support Group this fall.

An Emergency Intervention

On Tuesday, August 30th, Claudia Black, the Executive Director of the Children’s Justice Alliance and Glenna Hayes, Director of the Center for Family Success, made presentations to the 7:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. roll calls at the North Portland precinct. These presentations focused on the role that the Center might play in assisting police deal with families in crisis.

After the 7:00 a.m. presentation, the Center received a call from an officer who asked if our organization might be able to assist a family. He had been called to evict a woman, her 5-year-old and 4-month-old from a motel room.

Glenna and Miranda Herrera, Integrated Services caseworker at he Center, responded to the call and visited the family to see if they could help her find temporary shelter and determine if she was eligible for any benefits. After meeting the mom, who was so tired she could not stay awake, Miranda determined that she did have benefits she would be receiving in two days and Glenna found a shelter where the family could stay for the next two nights.

In the interest of the family’s well-being, it was agreed that Mom and children would go to the Center where Mom could rest and prepare to go to the shelter later that day. By late afternoon it became apparent that Mom was not only exhausted, but probably suffering the effects of substance abuse. The Center’s team didn't feel it was safe to take this woman and her young children to the shelter when she was not able to parent her children.

A call was made to the hotline and a Child Protective Services worker came out to the Center. One of our organization’s parenting coaches is a foster parent who was qualified to take the children. Mom was not willing to agree to let the children go voluntarily, so the officers from the North Portland precinct arrived to assist the CPS worker in taking the children into state's custody.

Mom was transported to the shelter where she did not spend the night. She did meet Glenna there the next morning though. Glenna and Miranda accompanied her through the preliminary Shelter Hearing and other processes. At the Shelter Hearing Mom agreed to engage in treatment and other services with the judge recommending that she be placed in a program where the children could remain with her.

Ideally she could transition from residential treatment to the Family Success House and participate in Parenting Inside Out and other Center services.

The following day Center staff met to discuss the intervention. Most members of the staff participated in supporting the family over the course of the intervention. It was a very emotional event and one that everyone agreed embodied The Center’s mission to its fullest. We see this as a great example of how partnerships can enhance outcomes for the children of incarcerated parents. The police officers' and DHS caseworkers' involvement made it possible for us to facilitate this intervention.

*All names have been changed.