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At
COTS, many of the homeless parents were not parented well
when they were children. Lacking good role models and
training, they struggle to be good parents without knowing
how to do that.
Consequently,
their children may not thrive or develop their full potential,
and sometimes suffer from neglect and abuse. To support
homeless parents in becoming better parents, to help them
and their children and to break the cycle of homelessness,
COTS has developed Kids First.
In
developing Kids First, we
asked ourselves, What is the best way to learn? In school,
we often sit at desks while information is presented to us,
and we have the opportunity to interact with the teacher and
with other students.
The
classroom is a good starting place, yet if we want to change
the way that we live and some of our habitual responses to
common situations, the classroom may not be enough.
For example, if we want to learn to speak Spanish, we may
take classes and then seek an environment where only Spanish
is spoken. Full immersion in a Spanish-speaking environment
continually challenges and supports us in learning to speak
Spanish as a way of life. Our fluency can improve very
quickly this way.
We
decided that Kids First would not only offer classes based
on a state of the art child development curriculum, but would
also be supported by full immersion residential parenting
education (FIRPE). The key to FIRPE is that the homeless
parents reside in environments that COTS manages, and come
into contact with COTS staff frequently. So, we are
able to support sound parenting practices not only in Kids
First classes, but also as part of the day-to-day living experience
and participation in COTS programs—the way an immersive
environment supports learning of a foreign language.
We integrate shelter and services such as Kids
First, Children’s Haven,
and case management in an
intensively focused educational experience that leverages
the residential nature of our services and that strengthens
parenting skills and provides parallel support.
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