October 2006
Olympia’s Family Support Center
Provides a Network of Resources
Several years ago, “Sue” and her 4-year-old daughter left an abusive situation. She wanted to turn her life around, and enrolled in The Evergreen State College to get an education to qualify her for better paying and more satisfying jobs. She got involved in a new relationship in which becoming better parents was a priority. And she contacted the Family Support Center for help.
The Family Support Center, located in an historic former fire station in downtown Olympia, combines nine agencies and several programs under one roof. Parents and other relatives can find childcare, get information on child-rearing options and learn to create healthy relationships. Family members can also obtain legal advice, learn how to make good choices and resolve conflicts, and have fun together. The Family Support Center also assists with immediate needs, such as shelter and furniture, and helps families in crisis or facing homelessness.
At the Center, Sue learned about Nurturing Parenting. The eight-week class for parents with children 5 and younger helped her and her partner learn to set goals and promote positive self-esteem among all family members. The class encourages expressiveness and communication in families and provides information about children’s developmental stages and about discipline alternatives.
While working and attending college classes, Sue needed childcare for her daughter. She turned to one of the support center’s agencies, the Child Care Action Council, to find quality childcare. The onsite Olympia Childcare Center and the YMCA were a perfect fit for Sue and her daughter, who enjoyed playing with the kids.
Sue now works for a Family Support Center agency and will graduate from college soon.
Services to Families
The Family Support Center’s programs are directed primarily to residents of Thurston County, but many resources are available to anyone who needs them. Most services are provided on a sliding scale, making them affordable to families with a range of incomes. Many classes and services take place in the community – in churches, the Hands On Children’s Museum, agency offices and at the main facility in Olympia. Most programs include free childcare.
In addition to Nurturing Parenting, the center offers a 12-week Parenting and Family Values Class to help address past parenting behaviors and to help parents plan for a healthy future. An ongoing therapy and support group for women and teens assists with setting life goals and making effective choices. The Dynamic Dads group helps men be the fathers they want to be.
Parenting the Second Time Around is for grandparents parenting children, and is also open to aunts and uncles parenting their nieces and nephews. The Family Support Center runs an ongoing Kinship Support Group for relatives raising children, along with a monthly respite service, individual support and referrals, and a quarterly newsletter.
Anyone needing a well-deserved break from raising kids can take advantage of the Parent’s Night Out program at the Hands On Children’s Museum. The Center also provides free Power Parenting workshops at the museum with free supervised playtime for kids.
When parenting feels daunting, the family resource specialist at the Family Support Center can help. She guides families to solve problems and navigate through available resources in the community. She also provides support and advocacy.
Member agencies’ programs include:
- Olympia Child Care Center with subsidized childcare for children 1 month to 6 years old;
- Keystone Crisis Nursery, which provides emergency
childcare at no charge;
Emergency Shelter Network, helping with overnight shelter; - South Sound YMCA Children and Family Services;
- Furniture Bank, providing free furniture to low-income families and those who have been homeless;
- Thurston County Volunteer Legal Clinic.
How the Center Works
To be part of the Family Support Center, agencies must share a common philosophy and vision. Each must believe in helping families reach their goals by building upon their strengths and addressing their perceived barriers. The agencies cooperate and collaborate with each other. Families are broadly defined and are believed to be children’s best assets.
The Family Support Center is unique because flexibility is built into its core, according to outgoing executive director Marianne Lambert. It was created to grow and evolve with the community by listening to the needs of its families. Member agencies participate on the Center’s community board.
For example, Family Support Center staff and members of
its community board wanted to help families in the various ethnic communities
in Thurston County. To find out about problems and needs, it called together
parents, community leaders and service providers from many cultural backgrounds.
One service provider in the Vietnamese community saw a need for informing
her community about resources to ease the transition of families establishing
a new life here. She became excited about having parent education available
for her immigrant Vietnamese families, preferably provided by members
of the Vietnamese community who know intimately the challenges the families
face. In response, the Family Support Center created a training session
involving several member agencies and nearly 30 community leaders who
then organized parenting classes in their communities. These classes address
cultural differences and similarities in accepted child-rearing practices,
as well as changes that may happen within the family as children become
more easily assimilated into U.S. culture than their parents. Leaders
provide parents with bilingual resources.
The Family Support Center can help with any concern, question or problem concerning families, Lambert emphasizes. If the issue is something not currently addressed, the center will try to find a resolution that empowers families and its members, she says.
The Family Support Center is located at 108 State Ave. (at Capitol Way) in downtown Olympia. For more information, call 360-754-9297 or visit www.familysupportctr.org. The new executive director, Schelli Slaughter, can be reached at the main number. Pedi Colby, the family resource specialist, can be reached at 360-754-6099 or by e-mail at frs@familysupportctr.org.
Debbie Leung is an Olympia
writer and editor and the calendar proofreader for Puget Sound Parent
and Seattle’s Child.
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