Donate :: Success Stories

SUCCESS STORIES
We are grateful for the many donations we receive. Here are just a few highlights, thank yous and stories about the creative ways in which we are using your donated items and materials:

Bluetooth® Technology Plays Key Role
in Child Abuse Reduction Program
Wireless technology enables expanded
interactive parent training in California

Challenge
Laura Heintz is the Executive Director of Residential Services for Families First in Davis, CA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bettering the lives of children and families. Heintz is also a strong supporter of Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). PCIT is a proven intervention technique shown to be highly effective in preventing child abuse among at-risk populations. “One shaken baby is one too many,” she says as she cradles a newborn at the Yolo County Crisis Nursery.

Historically, PCIT has been provided in a clinical setting. A parent and child are placed in a room and are given tasks or toys with which to interact. Counselors watch the interaction from behind a one-way mirror and coach the parent on how to behave through an earpiece. Dramatic positive changes in the parent-child interactions occur within just a few sessions. Construction, maintenance, and equipment fees for one therapeutic room often exceed $20,000.

Solution
To address cost and availability barriers, several California agencies developed a mobile capability to deliver PCIT in non-clinical settings, including people’s homes, using a small video camera and monitor. Communication between the monitoring staff and the parent is accomplished using Bluetooth enabled cell phones and headsets donated to the United Way by mobile headset manufacturer, GN Netcom.

Placer County’s Child Abuse Prevention Council is one of the first agencies to incorporate Bluetooth technology into its PCIT program. “Using Bluetooth technology, we’re able to reduce the cost of providing PCIT,” says Kathleen Shenk, Deputy Director.

Shenk is ecstatic about the newly adapted program. Thanks to the mobility afforded by Bluetooth technology, her staff at the Roseville Center can use regular rooms to provide essential parent training. Shenk says filling business hours with clients is more cost-effective and will allow the center to double its number of PCIT appointments.

“The end product is that we help families,” Shenk says, smiling. “And that’s what it’s all about.”

The Bluetooth trademarks are owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc.

Thank You to Ronald McDonald House Charities and Pacific Coast Building Products Foundation

(L to R) Stacey Hodge, Dir. of Community Relations; David Newell, Ex. Dir. of Foster and Adoption Services, FamiliesFirst; Walter Grubbs, President and CEO, FamiliesFirst, Rosana Ruiz, Owner/Operator McDonald's Restaurant and Martha Fierro, Ex. Asst. to David Luccetti, Owener, Pacfic Cost Products Foundation

On February 5, 2007 Ronald McDonald House Charities Northern California and Pacific Coast Building Products Foundation presented FamiliesFirst with a check for $24,000, representing a grant in support of the Emancipation Support Fund.

The Emancipation Support Fund helps youth transitioning from foster care into independent living by providing scholarships for college as well as rent and living expenses. Thank you, Ronald McDonald House Charities Northern California and Pacific Coast Building Products Foundation for taking an active role in ensuring that youth who are emancipating from foster care do not have to face a world of independence alone.