Below is VOA Alaska’s April 2023 Newsletter. To receive this newsletter and other updates directly to your inbox, sign up here.
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time to recognize the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse and neglect. This month, we’re sharing our blog series on the Strengthening Families framework, which presents five protective factors for building healthy and strong families. Check out the descriptions and links for each of these factors and their respective blogs below.
#1: Parental Resilience
Being a parent can be stressful! Juggling work, household chores, meeting your children’s needs, and managing the family’s schedules and expenses can be a massive challenge at times. Part of being resilient is realizing that “fixing” things is not always the answer.
#2: Social Connections
This one is all about building your family’s support network—the ones you can turn to for help, that understand your unique personality and needs. When children have these positive relationships in their life, they understand they are worth caring for. They also see firsthand what a healthy relationship looks like.
3: Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development
It’s all about understanding developmental milestones, knowing what to expect and when to expect it from your children so you can create healthy environments for them to grow up in.
#4: Concrete Support in Times of Need
When a family feels overwhelmed or is under a heightened amount of stress, having support in place means they will have the resources available, and the knowledge to access them, to help meet their basic needs.
#5: Social and Emotional Competence of Children
Children have unlimited potential—they are always learning ways to manage their feelings and interpersonal connections. When they learn to understand not only their emotions but the emotions of others, they set a foundation of intentional interpersonal interactions for the rest of their lives.
VOA Alaska’s services are tailored to support families and reduce the stress of receiving behavioral healthcare. From our school-based services allowing students to receive on-site support, to offering telehealth services when transportation is a barrier, to our Family Services program, which provides education and therapy for all families in VOA Alaska’s care.
We all have a role to play in protecting the youth of our community and supporting resources that help build up healthy and strong families.
Raise a Ride for Youth: Fundraising Goal Reached to Purchase a Van for Day Treatment Youth!
Thank you to all who participated in our Raise a Ride for Youth campaign! We successfully reached our goal of $45,000 to purchase a vehicle for our Day Treatment youth.
Thank you to Rasmuson Foundation and GCI and the generous individuals listed below for their support and for helping to ensure our youth will have transportation to the care they need!
Debra Rouse
Jane E. Luey
Julia Luey
Lori Landenburger
Jamie Bishop
Jose Centina
Alexandro Cetina
Carolyn Heyman
Go Blue Day: VOA Alaska Joins Community Partners for Family Activity Fair!
Go Blue Day launches April’s National Child Abuse Prevention Month, with this year’s theme of “Building Together.” On Friday, March 31, VOA Alaska joined Alaska Children’s Trust, Alaska Children’s Museum, and Programs for Infants and Children and many other local family and youth supporting organizations for a Family Activity Fair at the Fairview Rec Center.
VOA connected with families through our always popular photobooth and frame decorating activity. Participants could choose from a range of silly blue props and then decorate a frame with stickers, markers, and other crafts to frame the love and remember the special connections between caregivers and their children.
This Month’s Fundraising Goal: Meal Gift Cards
A special thank you to Qdoba and McDonalds for donating 50 gift cards to VOA Alaska! These gift cards will go towards meals with our youth while we serve them in their recovery. Meals are a great way to celebrate milestones with our youth and provide them with an opportunity to get out of the office and engage in conversation over tasty food.
If you would like to donate fast food restaurant gift cards, please contact Juliann Flora at comms@voaak.org.
Or learn about more ways to donate and support our work to end suffering for Alaska’s youth!
