Caroline County
Human Services
Council, Inc.
(a.k.a. Local
Management Board)
317 Carter Ave.
Suite 101
Denton MD 21629
Phone: 410-479-4446
Fax: 410-479-4617
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Our Programs
Teen Age Pregnancy Prevention Program
The HSC has chosen the evidence-based program
titled, "School/Community Program for Sexual Risk
Reduction Among Teens." Originally funded by a grant
from the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development and the United States Office of Population
Affairs, the School/Community Program was first
developed and rigorously evaluated for effectiveness
by the University of South Carolina. Based on a
well-founded prevention practice of promoting multiple
strategies in multiple settings, the School/Community
Program was proven to significantly reduce teen
pregnancy in the target rural counties of South
Carolina. This is a new program offering in Caroline
County.
Intended to impact up to 600 students from the ages of
10 to 19 in the middle and high schools, the
School/Community Program is a comprehensive multi-faceted
approach to public health education encompassing five
focus principles of responsible decision making,
effective communication, values clarification, enhanced
self-esteem, and improved understanding of reproductive
science/sexual risk prevention. Opportunities to
emphasize the five principles will be provided through
four major strategy areas to include public awareness,
community workshops, teacher/school workshops, and peer
education. Paid staffing is limited to a
full-time coordinator.
Mom Movers
Funding ended for this program a few years ago, but the
return of Mom Movers has been a frequent request from
the public. Praised by the Infant Mortality Commission
as an innovative intervention, Mom Movers is a
transportation and resource awareness service. A driver
is trained to engage the passenger, typically a young
pregnant women who either lives in a household with low
or no income, in conversation about local resources for
young families, while the woman is being transported to
medical appointments. The driver, who is bi-lingual,
becomes a mentor and serves passengers who will most
likely be Hispanic and living in the Marydel or northern
section of Caroline County. It is anticipated that 50
women a year will be transported and 240 round trips
will be completed.
Addictions Counselor in the Schools
Currently a full-time Certified Addictions Counselor
engages targeted students in a range of prevention,
intervention, and treatment services three-and-a-half
days a week at North Caroline High School, and one-half
day a week at Lockerman Middle School. One day a week
is reserved for attending to administrative duties and
out-patient treatment services from a main office
within the Caroline County Counseling Center. The
Counselor provides services at the main office five
days a week during the summer. The Counselor, who is
employed in this capacity, serves on the Student
Assistant Team, Interagency Council, the BEST team
(a multi-disciplinary team working on students'
academic and behavioral issues), and the Coordinated
School Health Team, conducts individual and group
sessions for SAMIS (SAMIS - Substance Abuse Management
Information System) students at all three sites. The
Counselor also facilitates presentations for the two
county high schools and responds to ATOD (alcohol,
tobacco, and other drugs) questions from students who
are considered non-treatment (as a prevention method).
Students are referred to the Addictions Counselor in
the schools program through parents, teachers,
administrators, the Department of Juvenile Services,
Teen Court, BEST team, and self-referrals. For FY 08,
at least 90 students are projected to receive services
with 60% of those attending six or more individual or
group counseling sessions.
Child and Family Behavioral Health
This program is provided county-wide for children ages
3-15 who exhibit challenging behaviors that disrupt
daily functioning. One trained social worker, who is
supervised by a psychologist provides three visits per
week for the first five weeks, two visits per week
from weeks 6 to 9, and one visit per week for weeks
10 to 12. During these visits, the social worker
provides behavioral consultation to help parents and
educators manage or change problem behaviors in the
target child. During FY 07, 12 children participated
in Child and Family Behavioral Health services.
School Based Mental Health
Individual and group counseling are provided by a
trained therapist at Lockerman Middle School. In
addition, the therapist regularly meets with school
personnel and parents to support them in their roles as
productive key stakeholders in the life of the
students. Using a Multi-Systemic Therapy approach, the
therapist meets with students on an ongoing basis
depending upon need and without significant interruption
to the student's school schedule. During FY 07, 59
students at the middle school were served by this
program, with 46 students attending six sessions or
more with the therapist. Anticipated impact on
indicators includes decreased suspension rates at
Lockerman Middle School.
Planned and Crisis Respite Program
Respite is available county-wide to a target population
of families with children who have intensive behavioral
health needs. With the help of specially trained foster
parents, school-aged youth spend a night away in a
foster home, giving their parents a much needed break.
This arrangement is proven to help families remain
intact and reduce the number of long-term out of home
placements. Last year, 41 children were served during
290 overnight opportunities with specially trained
foster parents.
Caroline Mentoring Project
The Caroline Mentoring Project has been in existence
for five years. School-aged children in need of a
positive adult friendship are matched with mentors. The
Mentors attend several hours of training in advance of
the match and are closely monitored by the Project
Coordinator. Mentor and child meet once per week or
eight hours per month. Occasional group
activities for mentors and mentees, and ongoing training
for mentors is provided throughout the year. Last
year, 23 mentoring relationships were formed.
Lifelong Learning Center Afterschool Program
The middle school component of the Caroline County
Lifelong Learning Center Afterschool Program is
supported by the Human Services Council. The programs
at Lockerman Middle School and Colonel Richardson Middle
School provide homework assistance, academic support and
a broad variety of enrichment activities. All academic
activities follow evidence-based reading and math
curricula and focus on preparing students for the MSAs.
In addition, parents are encouraged to participate in
special family night activities and field trips. The
program operates four days per week for 22 weeks during
the school year. In the last fiscal year, 281 students
participated.
Laurel Grove Family Literacy Program
The Laurel Grove Family Literacy Program provides
homework assistance, adult English as Second Language
classes, parenting education, and parent and child
together activities for families from the primarily
Haitian community of Laurel Grove Acres. The program
operates two evenings per week
throughout the year. This program has proven to be
very successful in the past with a increasing number
of families attending on a consistent basis. Last year
19 students and 35 adult family members participated
in the program.
Teen Court
Teen Court provides an opportunity for first or second
time juvenile offenders who commit minor crimes to
voluntarily opt out of the Juvenile Services intake
process and instead, participate in a court of their
peers to receive consequences for their actions. The
program is administered collaboratively by the Caroline
County Health Department and the Caroline County
Sheriff's Department. Both agencies have a strong
alliance with the Circuit Court system and are
permitted to use the actual court room and jury rooms
for processing defendents. Both a Sheriff's Deputy
and the Alcohol and Drug Prevention Coordinator co-lead
the court sessions, meet with parents, and train the
student volunteers who serve as judge, jury, and court
officers. Last year, Teen Court saw 94 respondents in
Court, had 71 student volunteers assist in the Court
proceedings, and held 19 court sessions and 2
training's.
Nurturing Parenting Program
Created by Stephen Bavolek in 1983, the Nurturing
Parenting Program is an evidence-based approach to
parenting support. Both parents and their children
attend from 10 to 13 weekly sessions that are designed
for specific age groups i.e. infants, pre-school,
school-age. The foundation of the Nurturing Parenting
Programs® is that parenting is learned. The program
is based on the six assumptions:
- The family is a system;
- empathy is the single most desirable quality
in nurturing parenting;
- parenting exists on a continuum;
- learning is both cognitive and effective;
- children who feel good about themselves are
more likely to become nurturing parents; and
- no one truly prefers abusive interactions.
Two trained nurturing leaders facilitate each session,
with capacity for up to 15 families permitted per
session. It is anticipated that 24 families referred
by Social Services and Juvenile Services (and
self-referred) will be served over the course of the
first year of this program.
Community Organizer
This strategy was repeatedly suggested in community
forums by citizens and involves temporarily contracting
with a person who has community capacity building
expertise to enter high risk neighborhoods and organize
citizens around common causes. One mobilizing theme
successfully in communities across the nation has been
the development and maintenance of Neighborhood Watch
programs. Several communities will be targeted for
this intervention to include Federalsburg, Denton and
Marydel. The community organizer will assist
neighborhoods in developing an organizational structure
and leadership that can be maintained - resulting in
the need for the organizer becoming obsolete.
Parents As Teachers - Home Visiting Program
This provides home visitation services using the
Parents as Teacher's (PAT) curriculum, to unserved and
underserved pregnant women and children age 5 or
younger throughout Caroline County. Referrals are
received from various community agencies and
organizations for families not eligible for other
programming. Home visitors work to increase parental
knowledge, positively impact parental attitudes, and
enhance child development in each family served. To
build continuity among home visitation strategies,
Early Head Start, and Pre-K/K home visitors are crossed
trained in PAT and "Family Strengths Assessment" is
written with each family to facilitate transition
across programs. In cases where the family can no
longer be served by the referring agency, PAT home
visitors are assisted by Caroline County Early Head
Start and Federalsburg Judy Center to coordinate
services and link to community resources. In FY 07,
the program served 59 families and 50 children,
including pregnancies.
School-Based Dental Program
The School-Based Dental Program (SBDP) is an oral
health prevention program that provides dental
screenings, exams, and cleanings to children enrolled
in the County's Schools or Head Start programs. The
program provides fluoride treatments, referrals for
restorative dental care and dental sealants to children
enrolled. The intent of this program is to identify
children with untreated dental disease, children with
no primary dentist and then link them for definitive
care.
In order to achieve the overall goal of children being
successful in school, the SBDP primary goal is to reduce
disparities in oral health care for children and reduce
the number of students with dental decay in schools
served. The program is mobile in nature, utilizing
portable equipment that is moved from location to
location. Each school or Head Start program designates
a work space for the clinical operations. The type of
space is different in each school but must provide
electricity and a close proximately to water. The
school based mobile dental team includes three
contractual dentists, three Registered Dental
Hygentists, two assistants and two support staff.
When possible third party payments are collected from
the parent's insurance to partially pay for the dental
care.
Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol
A local Community Needs Assessment revealed underage
drinking as the number one concern in Caroline County.
This problem is emphasized by the Maryland Adolescent
Survey, ranking Caroline County very high in underage
drinking rates. Communities Mobilizing for Change on
Alcohol (CMCA) aims to stop the source of alcohol from
parents and establishments while lowering the
community's tolerance of underage drinking. CMCA uses
the team approach to define interventions that target
this area while supporting healthy youth decisions.
The entire community reaps the benefits by reducing
youth consumption. This leads to fewer auto accidents,
fewer crimes and healthier lifestyles.
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