Last modified: Monday, May 21, 2007 10:41 AM PDT Parenting program visits Ontario By Jennifer Colton | Argus Observer Ontario — Parenting is a challenge, and for some, that challenge can be overwhelming. “We got a call several years ago from a mother who was simply exhausted,” Lori Britain, Eugene, said. “She had four children and you could hear them in the background on the phone. She hadn’t slept in days for fear of domestic abuse. The first thing we did when we got her and her kids to the center was allow her to take a nap. We watched her children and gave her an environment where she could feel safe.” Britain is the associate director of national replication at Eugene-based Relief Nursery, a nationally-recognized program proven to strengthen high-risk families and keep children safe and healthy. Britain and a panel of other Relief Nursery representatives traveled to Ontario last week to talk about their program and how it could be reproduced in Ontario. “I am truly inspired by what is going on today (in Ontario),” Britain said. “The drive and the motivation in this community in terms of working together and wanting to make a difference — I have never encountered this support from a community at the beginning before.” The group from Eugene also included Irene Altucker, relief nursery executive director, Ed Barclay, board- member and business leader, Kathy Wiltz, boardmember and business leader, Russ Burger, boardmember and Lane County Sheriff, and Carla George, Accessing Success program manager. “For me, the equation is very simple,” Burger said. “If we can get in and intervene with these dysfunctional families early, it will make a big difference. One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. That’s kind of what we’ve been doing. Your jail is full, our jail is full.” During the visit, the panel toured Ontario and possible Relief Nursery classroom sites and met with community and business leaders and representatives from law enforcement and community corrections. “I’m on the fourth generation of (child abuse in) the same family,” Malheur County District Attorney Dan Norris said. “Anyway, we can step in and try to help them while they’re still kids, that will save us a lot of money.” At Treasure Valley Community College, the panel spoke with school representatives about setting up a Relief Nursery as a labschool for nursing students. “The idea of having the Relief Nursery for a labschool (for TVCC) is a powerful dream,” Britain said. “It would go so far for preparing teachers to work with students in challenging situations.” They then held community meeting Wednesday evening at TVCC to explain what the program is and how it could be implemented in this community. “The Relief Nursery started out in 1976 with three people thinking what could they do to help children who were in child services,” Altucker said. “We started out serving eight children in a donated space in a church. Today, in the Relief Nursery in the Eugene/Springfield area, we serve over 1,000 children, and there are now relief nurseries in nine communities around Oregon.” According to information provided by Britain, after one year in the program, 95 percent of the families receive no further reports of abuse or neglect and 85 percent of parents with a history of substance abuse who participate in the alcohol and drug recovery support program are still clean and sober after 17 months of treatment. “Our success has to do with ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts,’” Britain said. “We look at the child in the context of the family.” The panel also spoke about the core services the Relief Nursery provides, including: alcohol and drug recover support; counseling for children, parents and families; crisis response; therapeutic classrooms; home visits; mental health screening and assessment; outreach for isolated families; special education services; and assistance with transportation and basic needs. “Teachers are also home visitors,” Britain said. “They spend half the time with the students in the classroom and half the time they’re at the home working on parenting skills.” In Eugene, services are provided free of charge to families eligible by low income and risk factors. “The business community is very involved in the Relief Nursery,” Wiltz said. Although the specific development depends on the community, the relief nursery program is replicated in phases: a planning period, initial program implementation, program expansion and quality assurance evaluation at regular intervals. “It will work here because we have that issue,” Malheur County Sheriff Andy Bentz said. “This is a logical next step. This community can do it.”