MCH Family Outreach brings caregivers from the community together
for a time of support and connection during Caregiver Empowerment groups. Groups
can consist of parents, grandparents, relatives or fictive kinship caregivers
and are led by an MCH team member.
The groups are intended to provide support to all caregivers
in their roles by enhancing their knowledge, helping them to build skill, providing
them with access to community resources, and providing a space where they can
receive support and encouragement from peers. Topics discussed in these groups
include financial issues, legal matters, children’s behavior, caring for
oneself, advocacy, family bonding and making a difference.
MCH Family Outreach in Waco currently facilitates a
Caregiver Empowerment Group for Spanish-speaking families. The group has been
running for over a year and meets twice a month.
“We started it because we felt Spanish speaking moms in our
community could benefit from having a space where they could build friendship
and share experiences, especially but not limited to parenting,” said Ana
Chatham, case manager at the Waco office. “Late last year an agency here in town
that used to serve Spanish speaking families closed down, and we thought we
could help fill in the gap for a space such as this.”
Chatham leads the group along with fellow case manager Sara
Beth Stoltzfus. They recently hosted a special meeting to celebrate Christmas
where the participants brought their children together to play, sang holiday
songs in Spanish, and shared a pot luck lunch. The suggestion of the party came
from the participants themselves and provided an additional opportunity for bonding.
They also suggested topics that have been discussed during group meetings such
as sibling rivalry, online safety, communication and how to increase their
family’s connection.
“Our main role is to hold the space, providing some
structure, but the richness of the experience really comes from each woman
opening up and sharing of themselves. As we asked the participants to reflect
on what has been most impactful to them, several of them mentioned how they
experience our time together as self-care, an opportunity to pause, even if
it’s just for an hour every couple of weeks, and think about how they are going
about both their parenting role as well as other areas of their life.”
Other examples of groups include a monthly group for
adoptive parents in Waco, a long-standing group in Corpus Christi that has
separate spaces for caregivers and children, and a group in a maternity home in
Bryan for homeless women. Caregiver Empowerment Groups are open to any
caregiver in the community, regardless of whether or not that caregiver is a
client of MCH. Attendance is free of charge and all MCH Family Outreach offices
are able to facilitate these groups. If you are interested in joining a
Caregiver Empowerment Group, please visit MCH.org, click on the “Locations”
tab, and contact the family outreach office nearest to you.
