Community Partner Spotlight: Cape Cod Children’s Place
October 21, 2024
Children’s Cove works closely with a vast network of community partners across the region. Fundamental relationships are maintained with those who are a part of a multidisciplinary team, (law enforcement, district attorney’s offices, The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, and The Massachusetts Department of Public Health)Additionally, Children’s Cove is engaged in relationships with service organizations accepting referrals as a part of the support process for children and their non-offending family members.
Relationships that Children’s Cove maintain with youth-serving organizations across the region are critical when we consider the essential elements of the prevention of child abuse. This necessary dynamic is best described as per language used in the national accreditation standards set forth by the National Children’s Alliance, “The numbers of individuals who need and would benefit from prevention education, training and related services may exceed the capacity of any one agency.” Children’s Cove has partnered with numerous regional agencies to provide prevention education across the communities of Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard. One of the most critical partners is Cape Cod Children’s Place.
Our mission really says who we are, a nonprofit resource referral and education center committed to providing high-quality, early education and care, support, and advocacy for families with young children.” – Cindy Horgan
Cape Cod Children’s Place, with a primary location in Eastham, and a secondary location in Yarmouth, is an early education and care program serving Mid to Outer Cape Cod. In addition to providing year-round, full-day early education and care for children of preschool age, they also provide free parent education programs and free playgroups promoting early literacy and community connections for isolated families. As community needs have evolved, CCCP has continued to develop new services to meet those needs, including programs to support families affected by substance use disorder and support groups for grandparents raising grandchildren.
In 2020, Children’s Cove was a key partner in CCCP obtaining the Children’s Trust SAFE (Strengthening All Families Everywhere) Child Communities grant from the Children’s Trust. The grant focuses on abuse prevention education and strengthening a family’s resiliency in experiences of trauma. Since that time, Children’s Cove and CCCP have provided numerous ongoing in-person and online abuse prevention education programs for parents and caregivers across the region in English, Spanish and Portuguese. One such program for parents titled “In the Interest of Every Child” provides information about specific prevention tips, conversations for children of all ages, and how to access confidential support if a child makes a disclosure. Children’s Cove and CCCP utilize the programming provided through the Children’s Trust “Keeping Kids Safe” curriculum and the Massachusetts Children’s Alliance “Recognizing and Responding to Abuse” curriculum to share evidenced based information to parents and caregivers.
Using evidence-based frameworks while applying proven research observations in regard to the brain development of children, our collaborative work toward prevention is focused on developing understanding, and increasing family access to what are known as the “Five Protective Factors.” These protective factors include:
- Parental Resilience: Having the skills and ability to cope and bounce back from challenges.
- Social Connections: Having friends, family, and community to provide emotional support and assistance.
- Concrete support in times of need: The knowledge and ability to access life-essentials such as food, clothing and housing when there is need.
- Knowledge of parenting and child development: Accurate information and skill development in raising children with appropriate expectations and interventions.
- Childrens social and emotional development: Understanding a child’s ability to interact positively with others and teaching them to communicate their emotions.
The programming and staff at CCCP provide education and skill development around these protective factors and incorporate them in all the work they do. More than that, however, there is a critical component surrounding the enduring application of this work; which is helping move community-based agencies in a shared direction of promoting prevention.
While Children’s Cove and CCCP are proud to emphasize the potential of our collaborative work, CCCP deserves special recognition for providing so much more to the Cape Cod communities it serves. The whole of CCCP’s work is no less than a comprehensive safety net featuring direct early education and care services, family resources, co-location with the Outer Cape WIC office, hosting the Immigration Resource Center staff, healthy parenting courses and so much more.
Cape Cod Children’s Place has been an essential part of the Outer Cape community for decades, and a close community partner for just as long. We are excited to continue our collaborative work to create a community free from abuse for children in the for many years to come.
