Children’s Trust wrapped up its spring cycle of the Strengthening Families Program in 24 counties with a special guest at one of the graduation ceremonies.
House Speaker Jay Lucas mingles at the SFP ceremony with graduating families.
The Strengthening Families Program received a ringing endorsement at a recent graduation from South Carolina House Speaker Jay Lucas.
Speaking at the June ceremony for 11 graduating families at the site administered by Darlington County First Steps, Lucas praised the curriculum and the efforts of the family members for completing the 14-week program, which is designed to help families develop positive discipline practices, stay resilient in tough times, reduce conflict, improve parenting skills, and assist children with social skills, relationships, and school performance.
“I want to commend each and every one of you for your hard work going through this program,” Lucas said. “I know it wasn’t easy coming every week for as long as you did to learn the things you did, parenting skills, communications, learning to talk to your kids.”
Children’s Trust implements the Strengthening Families Program with 20 local partners in 24 counties across South Carolina through funding from The Duke Endowment and the S.C. Department of Social Services. All of those sites recently completed the spring cycle with graduation ceremonies for their participating families. Darlington County First Steps housed the weekly sessions at West Hartsville Elementary School, where the graduation also was held.
Tracy Redfearn, a longtime psychologist in the school system and now the executive director of the Child and Family Resource Center in Hartsville, served as the SFP site coordinator for Darlington County First Steps. She spoke of the close relationships among individuals, schools and businesses in the Hartsville community that helped get the program launched. She wanted to foster that same spirit among the families in the program.
“Every week they were excited about spending time together,” she said.
Redfearn said the families appreciated Lucas making an appearance at the event to salute their accomplishment.
“It was meaningful to them that he took the time to stop and talk about how important families are,” she added.
Lucas, a Hartsville resident who has served as a member of the House representing District 65 since 1999 and as the speaker since 2014, sat with 11-year-old Kiki and her family at her request at their table before he spoke. Lucas received a first-person account of what the families experienced each week.
The 2.5-hour weekly sessions include a family meal before splitting into parenting classes and child classes with the program’s group leaders. Parents and children come together again as a group for a facilitated discussion at the end of the evening. The evidence-based program focuses on families with children ages 6 to 11.
“Kiki told me a lot of great things about the program,” he said.
Lucas relayed his own family stories of raising his son Will, who’s now 26, with his wife Tracy and the importance of communicating life lessons to him. He also acknowledged the work done by Redfearn and Darlington County First Steps executive director Darnell McPherson in bringing the program to the Hartsville community.
Children’s Trust also granted funding for a fall SFP cycle with Darlington County First Steps that Redfearn will again oversee at West Hartsville Elementary.
“We can’t wait,” she said.
Redfearn invited Gov. Henry McMaster to attend the graduation as well, and although he couldn’t make it, he sent a congratulatory letter to the families, who received a framed copy of it. McMaster’s letter stated, in part:
“With each generation comes a new set of challenges that can be difficult to define and address. By completing this program, you have gained the knowledge and skills that can help you identify and work through these trials in a responsible way. While it has often been said that children don’t come with instructions, and I would hazard a guess that children express the same sentiment about parents, Strengthening Families (Program) helps clear the path to a brighter, happier life for the entire family.”
