Last spring, our Family Resources Network (FRN) received a referral from Children’s Services for a family undergoing investigation. Police had attended the family’s home due to domestic violence concerns. Dad was suspected of overusing alcohol, and Mom had a history of post-partum depression. They were a young family raising a three-month-old and a one-and-a-half-year-old.  

During this time, the FRN’s Home Visitation Spoke was still in the process of hiring staff and was not yet ready to accept referrals. But, the FRN Hub was able to continue support through Trellis’ Early Childhood Development Spoke as all services had already moved to virtual platforms.

Working together with the whole family

From our first interaction, Mom was very responsive, actively engaged and welcomed some support. She shared that her biggest concern was the lack of speech from her oldest child. One of our FRN specialists provided speech and language resources and offered to assist with completion of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires to explore Mom’s concerns.  

The family began meeting weekly with our FRN worker over Microsoft Teams, with both Mom and Dad regularly attending the meetings. The conversations and subsequent goal planning focused on strategies to increase speech and language for the toddler and how to manage the toddler’s extreme tantrums. Our specialist also encouraged participation in FRN’s online Rhymes and Songs program as a speech/language and attachment strategy—which Mom attended with both children. Their toddler was frequently seen smiling during the program and engaging with Mom.  

With time, Dad was able to share in that as the primary fulltime caregiver. He struggled with feeling consistently empathetic to the children’s cries and had been feeling quite low during this period of isolation. He sometimes found it difficult reacting to the children’s cues and would feel guilty about his feelings. The specialist validated how tough those feelings can be and praised Dad for feeling he could share.  

A third goal was then created to explore self-care for the parents, and Dad realized how much his moods affected the children’s behaviour. The family actively worked on their goals, continued ongoing communication and virtual meetings with the worker, and as a result, the Children’s Services worker decided she did not need to open a file.  

On the right track

Though the family still faces challenges (as is to be expected with two children under the age of two during a global pandemic), they most recently reported less tantrum behaviour, more sleep for both parents and a bit of progress with the toddler’s speech. The family continues to work with the FRN, and the primary goal is to help the family connect with a speech-language pathologist to assess the need for any additional medical/professional supports. We have high hopes for this family as they continue to grow towards their potential and build a strong, healthy foundation for themselves!