Madie joined the Healthy Families (called Healthy Start before July 2015) program in 2012 when her son, Koamalu was born. At the time, Madie was unsure about raising her son and the kind of Parent she would be. To add to her stress, Koamalu was diagnosed with several medical problems.
“I really felt alone. I didn’t know if I could be the right mother for my Son. There’s so many questions when you’re raising your child, you don’t always have the answers.”
Healthy Families is a signature program of Child & Family Service. The purpose of this voluntary, abuse-preventing program is to support and strengthen families by addressing the individual needs, set up goals, build a home environment around the baby, provide information, and other services.
After joining the Healthy Families program, Madie met her Case Manager, Tina. Tina guided Madie through the program, helping her with child development milestones, assisting with effective parenting methods, and overall being a somebody that Madie could talk with.
“Having Tina and Healthy Families with me, it really strengthened me and my family. I learned positive ways of parenting, not to yell all the time. It really helped, especially when we were going through all the medical appointments. I could talk with Tina whenever I needed to.”
Koamalu is now 3 and thriving. Madie was very thankful for the help that the Child & Family Service Healthy Families program did for her, and has also decided to give back! She is a member of the Healthy Families Advisory Council and attends Continuous Quality Improvements meetings, being a voice for program participants on how to improve the program. She has also told her story at multiple venues, sharing how this program allowed her to be more confident and strengthen her family.
