Featured New Member – HELP for Kids

The Exchange Club Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse of Southern CT, Inc. (DBA: HELP for Kids – An Exchange Club Parenting Skills Center) provides education and personalized support services to families in Fairfield County to improve the health, wellbeing and safety of the children.

Their home-based services help strengthen the parenting and life skills of the parents/caregivers resulting in a safer and happier environment for our children.

The Center’s programs improve the stabilization of the family by ensuring that the home environment is safe, that the children and family’s basic needs for food, shelter, and clothing have been met, and that the family has knowledge of and access to community support and programs they need.

Contributing factors such as poverty, lack of affordable housing, joblessness and substance abuse lead to the rise in the incidence of child abuse and neglect. When a child lives in an environment with abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction it can subject them to a level of stress that can become toxic to their developing brains and bodies. Prolonged levels of toxic stress can disrupt brain development, increase the risk of future health problems like heart disease, mental illness, and it can have a longitudinal impact on the health and well-being of the child.

Education is a key component of helping to stop the cycle of trauma and neglect in homes, Help for Kids work with families to not only prevent and treat child abuse and neglect but to enable them to flourish. Because the work is both educational and strength-based, families are motivated towards positive change and flourishing.