Programs help prevent child abuse at Fort Sill

By Laura JungreisAugust 13, 2013

FORT SILL, Okla. -- To honor victims of child abuse, the Fort Sill Family Advocacy Program is highlighting some recent successes in the fight against child abuse.

In the past two years Fort Sill's child abuse rates per thousand have fallen below both the Army and Oklahoma averages.

Lisa Jansen-Rees, Family Advocacy Program (FAP) manager, believes the lower abuse rates are likely the result of a series of effective prevention programs occurring across the installation, such as those offered through the New Parent Support Program (NPSP).

"Our command group has been adamant that we are proactive in preventing abuse, rather than simply identifying and reporting an incident after it has occurred," Jansen-Rees said.

The NPSP is specifically for parents of children ages 5 and below. One of the programs offered is home visitation.

"We have this fabulous, free, voluntary program where a professional comes to you," said Sam Atchley, New Parent Support lead home visitor.

"We're all registered nurses. We go see families at least twice a month and cover growth and development, nutrition, how to play, attachment and bonding. We talk about how to prevent domestic violence and child abuse, how to discipline effectively and appropriately," she said.

The home visits can even start in the prenatal stage, where discussions center on how to stay healthy during pregnancy, get ready for parenthood and make sure the house is safe.

Once the baby is born, parents are encouraged to attend prevention activities like playgroups.

"What's different about Fort Sill, in relation to those playgroups, is most other locations have one a week," Jansen-Rees said. "Fort Sill has six playgroups a week."

Playgroups meet every weekday morning, including a special one conducted entirely in German on Fridays.

Occasionally special playgroups are held on weekends, too. Fort Sill can accommodate so many playgroups, because there is a room dedicated for FAP parent and child activities, and playgroups at the Graham Resiliency Training Center (GRTC).

"Many installations don't have that available," Atchley said. "We're very blessed."

The NPSP also sponsors a monthly field trip called Caravan Club, where parents and children travel locally to places such as Lake Elmer Thomas (LETRA) and the bowling alley for a fun-filled day.

"Valentine's Day is always a fun one," Atchley said. "They also go to the post office, make a Valentine's card to send to a deployed parent and go behind the scene with the postman to see how things work."

In additional to playgroups, another popular preventative program is the infant massage group held Wednesdays. The massage promotes health in newborns and also teaches parents a relaxing way to calm a fussy child.

"We've taught massage to our families on an individual basis through home visitations for a long time," Atchley said.

Atchley met Jasmine Williams, a certified educator of infant massage, about a year ago and invited her to teach the class as an Army Community Service volunteer.

Another new program is the breastfeeding support group, where pregnant women and breastfeeding moms meet to talk about coming home with a baby and the advantages and art of breastfeeding. The group meets on the fourth Thursday monthly in the GRTC.

All of these programs aim to increase six protective factors in families: parental resilience, social connections, knowledge of parenting and child development, concrete support in times of need, social and emotional competence of children, and nurturing and attachment.

"Playgroups lead to attachment," Atchley said. "They encourage resilience and knowledge of parenting skills by it being a parent-child playgroup. We're there to model appropriate behavior. It also gives them a social connection."

The infant massage and the breastfeeding support groups focus, too, on attachment and knowledge.

We want to establish that foundation of concrete support in this community from the get-go," Atchley said, "even during the prenatal period."

The FAP at Fort Sill is always working to create new prevention programs. FAP educators Andrea Peters and Patricia Wells are working on a new activity-based group for parents and children ages 6-12, called Trailblazers, with an anticipated start date in October.

"It will enhance family functioning and resilience," Wells said. "It will benefit the kids and the parents and give them fun activities to do together."

Jansen-Rees said the key is the parent-child interaction.

"There is so much in our community for 6- to 12-year-old children where the parent drops them off," she said. "We drop the kids off at school, sports, dance, scouts, you name it. While those activities are positive, they don't promote parent-child interaction. We want to create that option for Fort Sill families. It's the interaction that furthers those protective factors. Ultimately parents are a child's primary protector against child abuse."

Jansen-Rees said in Oklahoma there has traditionally been a spike in child neglect cases during the summer.

"We thought that might have been a result of military families, new to the area, really not knowing what services were available to them," she said. "So, in March we did a youth summertime activities expo, and then in April we had a huge Child Abuse Prevention Month campaign informing families about the prevention groups, activities and home visitation services available to them.

"[In] May we had so few reports of child abuse occurring in military families that our treatment team didn't have to have a June case review committee to determine treatment plans," she said. "That's prevention in action, and it's definitely something we, as a community, should celebrate."

To report abuse in a Fort Sill military family, call 580-442-2103. To find out more about prevention activities, visit www.facebook.com/FortSillACS.