Parent Nurturing
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Robyn Krienert believes in the value of Hope Haven's new Parent Nurturing Program, currently available in Plymouth, Cherokee, and Ida counties. A practitioner serving in a similar program for the past 13 years, she is committed to this outreach "because parents really need help and because this program helps children."
Hope Haven assumed administration of the program in July 2005. Doug Smit, Director of Children and Family Services, comments: "Problems with kids are almost always related to what's happening at home. If parents had poor role models, if they did not learn how to parent, that hurts kids. Or if parents once knew how to parent and lost that ability due to drugs or alcohol, they need to re-learn. This program can help kids." Thanks to Prevent Child Abuse Iowa Funding through the local Sioux Cluster Decategorization Council, this program offers in-home, one-on-one counseling that equips parents through a 15 week course focused on nurturing. Initially, the program focuses on affirming parents, exploring how they handle stress, and discussing their own parents. Most of the young parents with whom Krienert works are under 32 and grew up in homes where there were no boundaries, in broken families, sometimes in families where there are serious dysfunction. As parents learn to value and care for themselves, they are able to love and care for their children. Krienert goes alongside hurting families and makes a difference.
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