MICHIGAN News

The Eastern Michigan University Wraparound Project started
servicing clients about a year ago, and as of today the project has 29
at-risk teen parents in the program.

The project assists parents 16-20 who are at-risk and dealing with
court involvement, substance abuse, mental health and homelessness.

Special education professor Laura Sanchez wrote the initial grant
to the Department of Justice three years ago, help the at-risk teenage
parents of Oakland and Washtenaw counties.

“Research done by EMU…[found] the most vulnerable group to be
targeted was teenage parents,” said Lauren Urteaga-Fuentes, Project
Coordinator for the EMU Wraparound Project.

Sanchez would leave before the Wraparound Project officially started
taking clients, but special education professors Dr. Derrick Fries and
Dr. Karen J. Carney stepped up to take her place and are now
co-directors of the Wraparound Project.

The Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit agency, said only 64
percent of teenage mothers graduate from high school or earn a GED. This is in comparison to 94 percent of
non-pregnant female teenagers.

Studies done by Child Trends, a nonprofit research organization,
said nearly 80 percent of teen mothers eventually go on welfare, and 55
percent of all mothers on welfare were teenagers at the time their first
child was born.

The project uses mentors to address school completion goals for the
clients, as well as becoming a friend, adviser, career counselor and
role model.

“There has been a great response from the EMU
students that really care and want to get involved,” Fuentes said about
EMU students getting involved in the
community based project.

About three quarters of the mentors involved are EMU
students, most of whom are from the education department or social work
program.

“I value the importance of mentoring…helping someone out with their
situation,” said Azibo Stevens, an EMU
doctoral student in urban education and a mentor in the project.

“[The Wraparound Project] does a good job of pairing people
together, and helps us by offering financial support and reimbursement
for activities with our mentees.”

Fuentes said, “Homelessness is the biggest problem for teenage
parents, their relationship with their family suffers after pregnancy.”


The project looks to stabilize a client’s living situation and
relationships by addressing parenting and family functioning goals
throughout a client‘s wraparound tenure, while coordinating with other
community based services.

This has lead to a strong relationship among Wraparound mentors,
such as Stevens, and their clients.

“I have counted on this person to be a friend, and when the official
case comes to an end, I want to continue this friendship,” Stevens
said.

A client graduates from the program when he or she is no longer
cosidered an at-risk teen parent or the clients have turned 21, the age
limit of the program.

The success of the project hinges on the importance of the mentors
and EMU student involvement to create success
stories for the clients that avoids the mentee becoming another child
trends statistic.

“The mentee has enrolled back in school to get a high school
diploma, worked on their resume to get a full time job, and they have
taken steps in their relationship and parenting,” Stevens said. “It has
been rewarding to see that growth.”

SOUTHFIELD — There will be a free child ID Day event from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Saturday at Southfield Civic Center Parks and Recreation, 26000
Evergreen Road. The Southfield Police Department will photograph,
fingerprint and provide other valuable information that will be given to
parents and guardians.

Oakland County Commissioners Eric Coleman
and Janet Jackson will submit a resolution on Tuesday to commemorate
“Missing Children’s Day” in the county and encourage residents to take
time to talk to their children about safety to help them keep from
becoming one of the nearly 800,000 children that are reported missing
each year.

Those still searching for her killer plan to commemorate 5-year-old
Nevaeh Buchanan's life with a carnival-type event Saturday in Monroe,
nearly a year after her death.
The community group Justice for Nevaeh is
sponsoring Remembering Nevaeh -- One Year Later, at the Moose Lodge
near the Monroe apartment complex where the girl was kidnapped May
24, 2009."We didn't want to word it as a celebration; we didn't want
it to call it an anniversary, but since Nevaeh was so young
and innocent, we wanted to gear it toward the kids," the group's
co-chairwoman, Risa Thompson, said Tuesday. Thompson, 42, of Livonia is a
distant cousin of Nevaeh's father.From noon-9 p.m., bounce houses, carnival
games with prizes, food, live entertainment and exhibitions by local gymnastics and
karate students are to take place in the parking lot at 1320 N. Macomb
St., where volunteers gathered a year ago to mobilize searches.The event also is to
host presentations on child safety, abuse prevention, counseling and
creating a child safety contingency plan. The Rev. Dale Hayford of the
Community Crosswalk Church in Monroe is to open the event with a prayer.Two fishermen found
Nevaeh's body on June 4, buried in dirt and covered with quick-drying
concrete along the River Raisin. An autopsy showed the preschooler
suffocated after inhaling dirt. The Monroe County Sheriff's Office is
searching for her killer and more than $20,000 in reward money has been offered.
Anyone with information about her disappearance can contact the Sheriff's
Office Nevaeh Buchanan Task Force at 734-457-6713.

There's a new way to report abuse or neglect of children or adults in Michigan starting today.The
Michigan Department of Human Services was set top launch a new
statewide Central Intake program at 8 a.m., replacing a system in which
calls would go to individual DHS county offices.
In the new program, one toll-free number, 1-855-444-3911, is available
to everyone, including mandatory reporters such as teachers, physicians and police, according to a news release from DHS.

"The
number is answered quickly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week
(including holidays) by trained professionals at the new Central Intake
call center in Kent County, where a successful six-county pilot program
has been running since September 2011," the news release said.

"The new system provides many improvements over the previous one, especially with consistency and efficiency."
Calls will be evaluated and referred to counties for an investigation decision, the news release said.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2012/03/new_michigan_dhs_child_abuse_r.html