Success Stories

 KEEPING A CHILD SAFE AND A FAMILY INTACT

Mrs. S. is a 29-year-old single working mother.  Her daughter J., age 7, is an intelligent child who used to receive much attention from both of her parents. When Mr. and Mrs. S. divorced, Mrs. S. needed to work more hours and had less time for her daughter. Increasingly, to gain her mother’s attention, J. would misbehave, and Mrs. S. began to resort more often to physical discipline. Once she hit J. hard enough to leave a mark which was detected by school authorities.

Tabor social workers in the services to children in their own home (SCOH) program, together with workers from Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services, identified three areas for intervention: stress management for mother, communication between mother and daughter, and effective discipline. SCOH counseling for this family included ways the mother might separate the stress at work from her home life, positive ways to alleviate the stress from being a single parent, and the types of problem-solving that can be done with a child to avoid anger-induced violence. The family also learned to communicate their needs to each other without anger.

In time, the S. family became a functioning unit again. Mother and daughter became better able to support each other and gain enjoyment from the time they spent together. Celebration was certainly warranted when the family was discharged from SCOH, because foster care had not been necessary for the child and she was safe in her own home.

INDEPENDENCE, RESPONSIBILITY AND PROMISE

The young man looked back on his life with a sense of pride and accomplishment. G.S. is clearly a winner in many respects. He entered the child welfare system at age 8 because of neglect and abandonment, and he survived seven foster homes and one group home before entering Tabor’s foster care program. Labeled as learning disabled, G.S. made steady educational progress throughout high school and by his senior year was mainstreamed into the regular curriculum.

With life skills training through Tabor, G.S. took an interest in civic responsibility. He initiated a recycling program at one business and advocated for recycling at another. G.S. felt that without Tabor’s help in preparing for independence, he thought the only future available to him was to sell drugs. Instead he was awarded financial aid to attend college.