Children's Services
Gateway commits to providing services for identified needs of children who are residing at Grace Home. Services will be provided in Grace Home whenever possible, however in some cases, identified needs will be serviced with the cooperation of other community agencies and arrangements will be made to access these services outside of Grace Home.
Because children are in a communal living environment while in residence at Grace Home, certain expectations are in place regarding rules and behavior for children while in residence at Grace Home. Parents are expected to work in cooperation with staff and other community agencies, to assist their children in respecting these rules and expectations.
It is the goal of Grace Home to ultimately reunify parents and children, or maintain a current unification. Children up to 12 years of age can be considered for residency at Grace Home. It is the responsibility of the Case Manager at Grace Home to collect needed information from referents regarding the history of the child and the needs that have been identified for the child to work toward a healthy relationship with their parent.
Expectations
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After a child is admitted to Grace Home, the Case Manager and Family Services Specialist will work with the parent in developing an individualized plan to work toward the accomplishment of the identified needs while the child is residing at Grace Home. Identified needs will be addressed on a priority basis, utilizing both in-house staff as well as community agencies specializing in needed areas. Parents are expected to be actively involved in assisting their child(ren) to accomplish these goals.
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Ultimately each parent is responsible for her child(ren)'s behavior while residing at Grace Home. Realizing that the parent may need assistance with behavioral issues, Grace Home staff or community agency staff will be available to assist the parent in dealing with behavioral problems. The parent's individualized life skills plan will address her needs to learn parenting skills.
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Physically and/ or verbally abusive behaviors are not acceptable either on the part of the parent or the child. Occurrences of these behaviors will be addressed on an individual basis. Parents are expected to use some form of positive discipline to deal with their child's behavior. Hitting, slapping or spanking is NEVER allowed. Staff who are aware of any abusive behavior on the part of the parent, other residents or guests, who meets the criteria for reporting to the appropriate State Human Services agency, are required to report the incident.
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Each parent will be given a copy of the "Rules for Kids" handout upon entrance to Grace Home. These rules will be reviewed by a staff person with the parent and the child, when age appropriate. It is the parent's responsibility to review these rules on a scheduled basis with their child, in accordance with the age of the child.
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Parents are expected to schedule structured time with their child on a daily basis for a minimum of one hour for interactive activity (i.e. reading, playing a game, working a puzzle, etc...). This does not apply to children who are younger than one year of age, and does not include watching television/ videos, or other forms of screen time (i.e. computer, video games, etc...). A private playroom with a bathtub is available for parent's use.
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Parent's will be assisted in obtaining needed child care. Although it is permissible for a parent to request another parent of Grace Home to watch their child, this should be the exception rather than the rule. In the event that an emergency situation should arise which requires a parent to leave their child in the care of another parent of Grace Home, the parent should inform staff where to reach her in case of an emergency. Residents are not allowed to provide child care for one another in Grace Home as a revenue source, or in exchange for non-monetary goods (e.g. cigarettes).
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Mothers are responsible for keeping their children's immunization records up to date. A copy needs to be provided to staff for your files.
