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CCKids has an emergency pantry for diapers, shoes and other items that case managers and safety managers need immediately when working with families entering the dependency system. Since the launch of the Early Services Engagement Program, which helps keeps kids out of foster care, we have experienced a marked increase in requests for safety items like bed/door alarms, baby gates, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.
Alarms are a critical resource as they help ensure the safety of children prone to running away or children who are sexually reactive due to childhood trauma. The alarms will alert the children's caregivers when and if they get out of bed in the middle of the night, helping to ensure the safety of those children as well as any other children in the home.
Baby gates are another often requested resource as they are often required in safety management plans that - if followed - allow a family to remain together under supervision.
Finally, carbon monoxide detectors and smoke detectors are common needs that come up when conducting home studies to determine if a home is safe enough to place or retain a child, therefore impacting placement decisions.
Maintaining these often-requested resources in our pantry will reduce the number of individual requests to the CarePortal, freeing the program's network of churches up to focus on more unique, family-specific needs.