Sherry Ann Dick joined the Strong Families program in July last year and has successfully completed the course with excellent results.
‘I signed up because my little girl was taken away from me’ said Sherry. ‘She didn’t always go to school, and I found it hard to keep things organised and clean. I lived in a big four bedroom house and it was hard for me to cope.’
Strong Families—part of It takes a village to raise a child—supports parents like Sherry to fulfill their responsibilities and ensure their children’s basics needs are being met.
Program delivery is tailored for families that have been referred to the program, or are at risk of being referred.
Sherry has learnt the skills she needed to get her daughter back and to make sure she stays. ‘The best thing about the parenting program is that I’m now looking after my daughter’, she said. ‘And I’ve said goodbye to Child Safety for good. Everything has changed. I’ve moved into a smaller two bedroom flat, and it’s much easier to manage.
Now I’m more organised and the house is cleaner. My daughter listens to me now and likes going to school. I did a lot of counseling with the parenting staff and watched the parenting DVDs. They taught me about parenting strategies, how to reduce my stress and how to take care of things at home.’