The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Schools’ home visiting program enjoying remarkable success
MIDDLETOWN — This past summer, I had the opportunity to meet with Colleen and Michele from Middletown Public Schools. Colleen and Michele work in the Family School Department, and I like to think of them as unsung heroes.
Their main priority is to ensure students succeed by working directly with their families, including conducting home visits to assist parents with positive childhood development and jump-start a successful new school year after COVID.
The Middletown Social Emotional Learning and Intervention Home Visiting Program provides comprehensive home visiting services to promote positive parenting and reduce child abuse and neglect incidences. Their four areas of focus are: nurturing parenting, healthy families, parent life outcomes, and school readiness, all of which align very closely with the Middlesex United Way’s Woman’s Initiative goal of ensuring that parents and children have the resources they need for healthy development.
Children who are tardy, absent and disconnected from school are likely to live in circumstances where family issues interfere with the child’s participation and opportunity to learn and achieve.
Each home visitor covers a caseload between 12 and 15 families, mostly comprised of lower-income and singlefamily households. Home visitors assist families in creating their own action/ family development plan based on family strengths, stressors and needs. Children
may be referred for truancy, behavior, physical, learning or developmental disabilities, academic struggles, mental health issues, unstable housing or homelessness, domestic violence and unmet basic needs.
This work is vital, and 97 percent of children enrolled in home visiting showed improvement in academics and behavior. To assist this amazing program, our Young Leaders Society hosts an annual school supply drive to provide the home visiting program with supplies to give out to their families.
While COVID prevented this drive from happening last year, we are optimistic it will return next year. Fortunately, the Middlesex United Way Women’s Initiative provides small grants to organizations and programs, and was able to distribute $1,000 this year to support the program.
“As a single dad of three kids, I can say that Family School Connections have been a pillar since day one,” the parent of a Snow Elementary School student
said. “They have helped me keep my family warm, fed and a roof over our shoulders by providing programs and resources that are out there for the community that otherwise I wouldn’t have known about if they weren’t working with us.
“They have helped me and my family not only with physical needs but also emotionally,” the parent added. “They have helped us stay connected with other families, knowing we are not alone. Family School Connection has been a blessing for my kids and me.
“I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart and we appreciate the hard work that you do for all the families out there,” said the parent of 15-, 8- and 6-yearolds when asked about the program.
If you would like to learn more about the work of the Women’s Initiative, please get in touch with Christina Heckart at christina.heckart@middlesexunitedway.org.