INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — For harried parents dealing with busy work and family schedules, just knowing where to turn to for help can be daunting. Whole Child Indian River, an initiative of the Junior League of Indian River, hopes to help with a free, customized, web-based service designed to meet each individual family’s needs.
“A lot of us have young children,” says Sara Beth Kennedy, league vice president and the liaison to Whole Child Indian River. “When I’m looking for something I go to the web. Think of a mother who might be overwhelmed with three or four children. If you can go to one website and just fill out one profile and find things for your whole family it just saves so much time.”
“The focus is on helping families before a problem meets a critical mass; realizing that there are places where you can get help,” adds Kelley Williams, executive director of Whole Child Indian River.
Whole Child Florida was initiated by the Lawton Chiles Foundation, continuing the legacy of the late Lawton Chiles, who served in the Florida House of Representatives, the Florida State Senate and the United States Senate and was the state’s 41st governor.
“They came up with the idea to address six dimensions of a child’s well-being in order to insure healthy, thriving children,” says Williams. “It connects families to service providers in their community. On the other end, it’s the idea of having service providers work together to provide holistic service methods.”
Locally, the program is in its infancy; with an eventual goal to have likeminded organizations pool resources, share information and integrate to cross-serve the community.
To utilize the program, parents or caregivers create a user name and password on the www.wholechildirc.org website, and complete individual, confidential profiles.
Unless they wish providers to contact them, Williams says, “Families are not required to share anything they’re not comfortable with – including name, contact information and address. The only requirement is a ZIP Code so we can make sure they’re being directed to Indian River County services.”
The current emphasis is on gathering potential providers and promoting the program to families at community events.
Volunteers bring iPads to assist those without computers to complete their profiles, which can then be accessed using library computers or even smart phones.
Ideally other nonprofits will follow the lead of the Healthy Start Coalition, whose programs include TLC Newborn, Healthy Start Care Coordination, Healthy Families, Mom Care and PiPP (Partners in Pregnancy and Parenting).
“With our new classroom setting, anyone coming in for one of our five programs could also sign up and utilize Whole Child,” says Rebecca Russell- Gootee, HSC executive director. “As a provider we will utilize it to give information to our clients. I think it’s a great addition to Indian River. It’s a great way for people to hook into all the resources they’re looking for in one spot.”
Williams estimated the average questionnaire, which features a series of “yes” or “no” questions on a wide range of topics, can be completed in about 15 minutes and can later be updated. A list of providers meeting their criteria is then produced.
“They can create a plan for their family,” says Williams. “They may go into the system thinking, ‘I’m just looking for after-school care for my child.’ They may answer ‘no’ to many of the other questions, but an anxiety depression question that comes up may trigger something in the parent to prompt them to click ‘yes.’ They don’t have to do anything with the information; they may just want to keep it and hold onto it in their profile.”
Questions may also help parents identify areas they may not have articulated; issues they may be dealing with, for which they did not realize help was available.
“Maybe you’re thinking about starting a family or you’re pregnant and need prenatal care, classes or general information. Even if you don’t have a child yet, it can be helpful to go on and create a profile,” says Kennedy. “A lot of places have waiting lists. It’s good to start thinking about those things before your child is ready to go.”
In addition to nonprofit organizations, inherently more in tune with the idea of collaboration, they hope to ultimately sign up private industry services such as health care practitioners, gyms and health clubs, financial institutions – essentially any business offering services to families.
The program promotes “Six Dimensions of a Whole Child” – physical and mental health; quality early education and development; social – emotional development; spiritual foundation and strength; safe and nurturing environment; economic stability.
“We are recognizing that in order to make sure children thrive; we need to reach out to support families through providers in each of these dimensions,” says Williams.