To help prevent child abuse, we offer intensive, one-on-one services to high-risk parents and their young children.

How it works

1. Families need help

Parents come to us seeking help. Some of them hear about us from churches, schools, and doctors' offices. Others are referred to us from the Circuit Court, Department of Human Services, or other community partners.

2. We help families determine what they need

• If there is a crisis, we will refer the family to crisis intervention agencies for immediate help.
• The family is put on a waiting list for our services. Unfortunately, the demand for services is greater than our ability to help. We consistently have 150 children on our waiting list. We maintain monthly phone contact with the families until an opening becomes available.
• Some families come to us for one of our support services: supervised visitation or our Fostering Attachment Treatment Court (a program for parents needing drug treatment).

3. Our staff educates and supports parents in their own homes

Home visits / Outreach

Once families are enrolled in our program, our professional staff visits a family in their own home to offer training and support. We focus on healthy child development, positive parent-child relationships, safety and early literacy. The curricula we use include Parents as Teachers, Promoting First Relationships, and Raising a Reader.

Other services available to parents enrolled in the program:

A. Parenting education
Parents of young children attend a ten-week parenting class. Our curricula include Make Parenting a Pleasure, The Nurturing Parent, and Promoting First Relationships. Classes include a parent-child lab where early childhood specialists are available to coach parents as they practice classroom information and techniques with their child in a child-friendly setting.

B. Family Nights
Family Nights are fun social events that help parent-child bonding and encourage early learning and literacy. Parents have an opportunity to meet other parents and practice their social skills.

C. Emergency Childcare & Respite
Short-term, emergency childcare is available for enrolled families when there is a temporary crisis that could jeopardize a child’s safety.

D. Clothes Closet
Quality used clothing, safety equipment and baby furniture are available to our families thanks to generous community donors.

4. Children receive intensive help in our therapeutic classrooms

We determine which children, six weeks to five years old, are most at-risk and would benefit the most from our therapeutic classrooms. They are placed on a waiting list until a spot in the classrooms opens up. Only about 1/4th of the children enrolled in our program are able to attend the classrooms due to space limitations.

We have a high ratio of adults to children. Each child has a designated care provider to help the child feel secure and build trust. We teach skills that help the child's social and emotional development, language skills, problem solving, and a sense of purpose. Parents continue to receive monthly child-focused home visits.

5. Children graduate from FBB classrooms and enter kindergarten or Head Start