FRCC: Family Resources of Cherokee County
Family Resources of Cherokee County (FRCC) is a family support organization that includes a program where staff educate mothers about their children’s’ development, a program where staff provide general information and referrals to families seeking services, and a program where staff bring together parents of developmentally disabled children to learn to advocate for themselves. Below are excerpts from a conversation where FRCC staff talk about FRCC and its goals.
“Well,
at Family Resources, all our programs are considered family support.
‘Family support’ is a word that gets thrown around
a lot. But that’s really what we do. I don’t think
we’d be able to provide education to people if they didn’t
trust us and feel like we were a good, friendly place to come.
“Before FRCC was started, there was some research in the county where people said that they didn’t have a place to go, or somebody to talk to. And sometimes we’re just somebody to talk to. And we’re not therapists, you know. We’re not digging into their pasts or their problems. We’re just somebody to listen.
“With my families, I’ve made a lot of good friends. I think that’s important for building trust. If they didn’t trust me, then they wouldn’t let me come into their house and work with their kids.
“We have moms that come by each day and just sit and talk to us. And that makes us feel good, when they just want to come in and see us.
“When we do go see families in their homes, we’re not going in to look for what they’re doing wrong. We’re going in to look at what they’re doing right, and to help them build on that. And they know that. So therefore it’s a success. A great success.
“And if we see that sometimes things aren’t in place because of a need they have, then we come right back here where we have the information, and say, ‘Well, have you signed up for WIC [Women, Infants, and Children], or have you spoken to the Department of Social Services about this?’ Because a lot of times we find out that they don’t have health insurance. And there is an insurance available and accessible to the majority of them. So we say, ‘Just phone.’ And we give them a phone number. We don’t do it for them. Because that builds their strengths.
“I think families feel ownership in FRCC. I think they
do. We say things to them like, ‘We’re trying to get
a grant to add this or that.’ And when it comes through
it’s like they had a part in getting it. They’re so
excited; they’re like, ‘Oh we got it, we got it!’
It wasn’t like, ‘You guys got it’; it was, ‘We
got it.”’ So I think they feel like it’s theirs.”
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