JF&CS

Embracing the Journey at the Women’s Breakfast

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 14:38:00 GMT

Posted by the JF&CS Events Team

Yesterday morning, more than 450 guests gathered at Congregation Mishkan Tefila to celebrate the important work of the Center for Early Relationship Support® (CERS) at the JF&CS Women’s Breakfast. The morning’s featured guest speaker was Cheryl Strayed, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, Wild.

We raised more than $200,000 to help CERS continue to promote the best possible infant-parent relationship and address the many complex needs of families in the early years of their babies’ lives.

Thank you to all those who helped make the Women’s Breakfast a huge success - chair Penny Goodman, honorary co-chair Audrey Schuster, guest speaker Cheryl Strayed, the Women’s Breakfast event committee, AE Events, Artistic Blossoms, Congregation Mishkan Tefila, Grossman Marketing, sponsors, ticket buyers, table hosts, board members, old friends and new. Your generosity continues to make CERS a unique and invaluable program in our community.

Honoring Mothers Every Day

Fri, 08 May 2015 13:59:00 GMT

Posted by Peggy Kaufman

Recently several staff members from the Center for Early Relationship Support® (CERS) were discussing Mother’s Day. A clinician mentioned that one of the moms she works with decided to mark the day by sending a picture montage to her daughter’s birth mother. We wondered if others had heard from new mothers about their choices for Mother’s Day.

We learned that Tanji was looking forward to getting a family pass to the zoo and meeting up with her sisters and their children. Deidre was planning to hike Blue Hills in Milton with her partner. Since both were celebrating Mother’s Day, one would carry the baby up the trail and the other down. Sophia, at five weeks postpartum, requested not only breakfast in bed but a day in bed.

Many mothers have an idea of how they’d like to spend the day and be celebrated. Others do not want to partake. Some Mother’s Day plans meet expectations while others are so influenced by the media façade of delighted mothers, happy children, and smiling faces that disappointment is inevitable. No matter what the choice, we know that a plan is only a plan and the reality of what then transpires with babies and children and partners is another story.

In last Sunday’s Boston Globe, Robin Abrahams (Miss. Conduct) reminded readers that, regardless of how the day is celebrated, “Mother’s Day was made for mothers. You don’t exist to celebrate the holiday appropriately. The holiday exists to celebrate you.” At the Center for Early Relationship Support, we honor mothers every day. A woman does not become a mother only by giving birth, but by dealing with the complex feelings, experiences, and tasks that accompany motherhood. We celebrate all mothers, whatever their experiences, on Mother’s Day and throughout the year.

Peggy H. Kaufman, MEd, LICSW is the founding director of the JF&CS Center for Early Relationship Support. With a background in perinatal emotional health and the growth and development of parents, her interests include the earliest relationships. Ms. Kaufman is the recipient of multiple awards for her groundbreaking programs and her commitment to increase awareness of postpartum depression and maternal and infant mental health.

Welcome to the Mothering Community

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 13:05:00 GMT

JF&CS News Spring 2015

Welcoming a baby into your home brings great joy and, for some, a steep learning curve. Hannah* and her spouse had recently moved to Greater Boston and celebrated the birth of their daughter. Like many new moms, Hannah was feeling overwhelmed with the constant demands of her one-month-old.

Luckily, Hannah had signed up for a visit from Welcome Baby!, a JF&CS program that welcomes Jewish and interfaith families into the community. When Ellen, the Welcome Baby! volunteer, arrived at Hannah’s home with a tote filled with gifts for the baby and community resource suggestions for the family, she was greeted warmly and ushered inside.

Hannah shared that she had not yet had much of an opportunity to meet other families with babies. As she grew more comfortable in Ellen’s warm presence, Hannah told her that she felt isolated and a little anxious as she transitioned into her role as a new mom. Ellen connected her with the Lauren and Mark Rubin Visiting Moms® program offered through the JF&CS Center for Early Relationship Support® and the JF&CS-sponsored new moms support group in her town.

Hannah was soon matched with a Visiting Mom volunteer and began to make friends in a local new moms group. She and her spouse plan to attend a JCC family program with a Passover theme, and she is excited to be part of a new community.

“At the Center for Early Relationship Support (CERS) most programs are home visiting programs,” said Laura Gerson, the JF&CS Coordinator of Welcome Baby!. “In addition to being a welcoming resource to the Jewish and interfaith community, the program is also about connecting to the mothering community. That’s something we’re good at.”

Hannah’s is just one of many happy stories to emerge from the Welcome Baby! program. Now in its sixth year, Welcome Baby! supports new parents in more than 100 communities in Greater Boston, the North Shore, and Central MA. Clients receive a home visit and a gift tote that includes a $25 Magic Beans coupon, two-year subscription to PJ Library, swaddle blanket, book, high-quality baby toys, community resource guide, invitations to parenting and play groups, and information about local congregations and Jewish family events.

“Welcome Baby! is very accessible. There’s nothing that you have to join, buy, or affiliate with. You don’t have to belong to a synagogue and you can participate as much as you want to. That’s what makes this such a lovely program for families,” said Laura.

Supported by trained and supervised volunteers, Welcome Baby! is a partnership between Jewish Family & Children’s Service and the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston, with generous support from Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

“The Welcome Baby! visit is the entry point. Beyond that, the JCC offers a number of ways to stay involved with the Jewish and interfaith community,” said Laura. “It enhances the program by providing many opportunities for families to participate.”

With 35 volunteers, the program continues to flourish and expand to new communities. In collaboration with the JCC, the program has added features, including monthly meet-ups at Panera Bread in Porter Square, Cambridge. JCC also offers a wide range of programs – stroller walks, new moms groups, playgroups, drop-ins, parenting workshops, and Jewish holiday family events.

New parents who participate are grateful. After a recent visit, one happy mom said, “I can’t thank you enough. The visit and everything else you offer has helped us tremendously.”

In 2013 JF&CS was able to expand this program to the Worcester area with generous funding from the Jewish Federation of Central MA. Shalom Baby (as it is called in Central MA), offers the same tote filled with gifts and resources specific to Central MA.

Welcome Baby! is looking for volunteers to conduct one-time visits with a Jewish or interfaith family in Metro North (particularly Arlington, Cambridge, Somerville, and Melrose). For more information, contact Lauren Schleicher, Manager of Volunteer Services at 781-647-JFCS (5327).

*Name changed to protect privacy.

For more information, call 781-647-JFCS (5327) or email your questions via our contact us page.

Project NESST Sponsors and Speaks at Summit

Fri, 27 Mar 2015 14:56:00 GMT

Posted by Jennifer Meyerhardt

On Wednesday, March 25 several staff from JF&CS Project NESST® (Newborns Exposed to Substances Support and Therapy) had the exciting opportunity to participate in the Summit on Maternal Substance Use Disorders and Substances Exposed Newborns, organized by Laura Sternberger from Melrose-Wakefield Hospital. JF&CS was also proud to be a sponsoring member at the event.

Kim Byrnes and Erica Asselin, NESST Mentoring Moms, presented to 60 summit participants that included Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, representatives from DCF, and providers of support to mothers who are battling or in recovery from substance use disorder and/or whose babies were born substance exposed.

The purpose of the summit was to connect with providers and discuss what works when serving this population, where there are gaps in service, and how to establish an ongoing collaborative to better serve this vulnerable population. Groups of conference attendees met to discuss essential questions regarding obstacles to providing coordinated care to these families and to identify services that are already being provided or need to be established in the future.

Questions discussed included:

What, in your experience, are some of the obstacles to providing a tightly coordinated system of support for families with substance use disorders and substance exposed newborns?
Are there ways your institution or agency has begun to address these obstacles? Are there resources you'd like to share with the group?
What are some of the services that are working well for families with substance use disorders and substance exposed newborns?
How do we help families access them? How did you learn about them?
What's missing? Are there tools, programs, and service areas that are particularly lacking? Which gaps should take priority?

NESST staff served as facilitators for these small group discussions. The excitement in the room was palpable and the commitment to advancing the care of families NESST serves was undeniable. I am excited to be a part of this collaborative and to continue the work of the summit with Project NESST.

Jennifer Meyerhardt has been a staff member at the Center for Early Relationship Support of JF&CS since 2000. Prior to becoming part of the Project NESST team she supervised the JF&CS Vulnerable Families Team, coordinated the CERS Needham Visiting Moms volunteer group, and was a mental health consultant at Horizons for Homeless Children. She is currently the Mentoring Mom Supervisor and Clinician with Project NESST.

Sleep Conversations: Getting Your Baby to Sleep

Fri, 27 Feb 2015 15:31:00 GMT

Posted by Diane Gardner

For a parent with an infant, sleep is one of the most talked about, most frustrating, and possibly most elusive topics in our parent support groups. It makes sense. Babies aren't designed to sleep with any regularity for the first few months at least, but it is a biological necessity most adults have mastered. Yet many parents come home from the hospital already sleep deprived. They may have had a long labor, a middle of the night delivery, or even a stream of visitors eager to meet the baby that, in turn, prevents the parents from getting the much needed rest and recovery time. So what can a new parent do?

At the Center for Early Relationship Support® (CERS), we believe every family is different, and within each family, every person is different. As such, when a parent calls for a sleep consult or attends one of our Sleep Conversations, we don’t tell them what to do. What we do say is that there are no magic answers; there are as many ways of helping a baby learn how to sleep for longer stretches as there are books professing the best (or surefire, or fill-in-the-blank) way to get one’s baby to sleep through the night. We believe that whatever we suggest has to be a good fit for the parent(s), and however they decide to handle their baby’s sleep is the “right way” for them in the moment. To that we add, regardless of what the approach looks like, it’s important for both parents to be on board and to support each other when parenting together. We tell them that their baby won’t go to college needing to be rocked to sleep but that we also believe in “gentle challenges;” that by providing a secure, loving environment, we offer our children opportunities to try things out for themselves.

And most of all, we tell them they’re becoming incredible parents. Because more than anything, we believe that everyone needs support and encouragement to be the kind of parent they want to be.

Diane Gardner has been providing support to parents of young children through the JF&CS Center for Early Relationship Support for several years. In addition to supervising and coordinating the Visiting Moms program on the North Shore, she provides support to parents around sleep and other challenges, runs new parent support groups, and provides transitional support to families in their homes. Her interests include helping mothers learn to trust their judgment and choices, as well as to help build communities of support. She holds a master’s in social work from Boston University and a master’s in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

An Unexpected Miracle: Making Adoption a Reality

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 15:38:00 GMT

Posted by Jon Federman

In June 2000, Sandi Serkess wanted to adopt a child. Even though she wanted an older boy of any race or religion, she found very few who met her needs. She went to adoption parties, looked on the web, and checked with the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE). As time passed, she worried that even when she found a child, it would still be six months before he could live with her and then another six months before the adoption became final. If it didn’t work out, she would have to start again.

The week before Thanksgiving, Sandi spoke with her next-door neighbor. She had adopted privately and advised Sandi to look into it. Sandi called JF&CS where her father had been an adoption worker in the fifties. In talking with Judy, a JF&CS adoption employee, Sandi realized that private adoption was prohibitively expensive. “Come talk to me anyway,” Judy insisted. Sandi agreed when she learned that Judy’s mother had actually worked with her father decades earlier at JF&CS and that was why she was being so persistent.

Sandi came to JF&CS to meet with Judy the day before Thanksgiving. Before she could say hello, Judy told her, "I have a little boy for you and all you’ll owe me is a picture." Judy gave her a number to call.

“My blood pressure went crazy and I was in shock,” says Sandi. “Inside I was screaming to myself, ‘No, not now, not today,’ but I knew I could not say no. A little boy needed a home; I had a home. What else was there to know?”

Sandi spoke to a man named Dragos who owned an adoption agency in Salem. He was Romanian, as was Sandi’s family. He shared with her that a couple from New Hampshire had adopted a Romanian boy, picking him up at the airport and bringing him home. After one night, the couple decided that they could not keep him for personal reasons and brought him back to Dragos. If Dragos could not find a home for the emaciated and, understandably, hysterical boy, the boy would have to go back to Romania.

“Dragos was going on and on and I was more terrified than you can imagine. I asked for the boy’s name and age and when I could have him. I wondered if I might be making a mistake but, then again, what guarantees are there in life anyway?” asked Sandi.

"He is four and a half, and his name is Johnny. You can have him today," Dragos told her. Sandi felt somewhat queasy and asked Dragos if she could pick Johnny up the next day, on Thanksgiving. Dragos agreed.

“I was up all night. I went shopping but bought nothing. How can you buy for someone you’ve never met? I borrowed toys and games and books,” added Sandi. “I was in a state of shock and would be for some time. His middle name was Michael. Coincidentally, Michael was the name of my brother who had died. There were so many coincidences!”

“When I first got him, Johnny was wearing pants and a sweatshirt. No winter coat and it was frigid outside. But by the next morning I had three winter coats for him thanks to my friends. They brought bags of clothes and toys every day for the first few months. What a Thanksgiving!” added Sandi.

“It wasn’t easy, but then nothing worthwhile ever is. He had been abandoned at birth and had many foster parents, some abusive. Learning to trust was a challenge for him, but eventually he did learn to trust. Today, Johnny is 19 years old. He is a good, sweet, respectful young man, who is exploring his options for the future. He has delivered food to the elderly and he has volunteered with the Salvation Army.”

Sandi reflects, “My father helped so many people through JF&CS, including adoptive parents, back in the 1950s. Who would have believed that nearly a half century later, JF&CS would help bring him a wonderful grandson who he loved so much, and who loved him so dearly. I truly feel that Johnny was my father’s reward for what he did there. Life has a strange way of working out, and for us it came around full circle.”

Jon Federman is the JF&CS Staff Writer. A practicing attorney for more than 15 years, he is thrilled to bring his legal and persuasive writing skills to the JF&CS Marketing Communications department. Jon has a BA from Tufts University and a JD from Boston College Law School. In his spare time he is an exhibiting photographer and an award-winning cartoonist. Jon lived in London, England for five years before returning to Boston in 2011.

A Parent’s Valentine Day Wish

Fri, 13 Feb 2015 18:26:00 GMT

Posted by Peggy Kaufman

When Julie’s husband, Juan, asked her what she wanted for Valentine’s Day she responded that she’d love a cup of tea. He looked at her confused, imagining that she might like a dinner date with him or a movie night. He asked her to clarify.

After the birth of their son eight months ago, Julie and Juan’s life together has become a “chore” household. Their conversations entail, by necessity, who will buy groceries after work, who walks the dog, whose turn it is to give the baby his bath, and on and on. By the time the dishes are cleaned up and food is packed for Julie’s lunch and the baby’s daycare, Julie feels done in. She has been longing for ten minutes to sit with Juan after the baby’s bedtime to sip tea, share thoughts, catch up on family news, or sit in silence together. Her Valentine’s Day wish is to make this time once a week. In addition, Julie would like to make their tea time a “screen off” time with less possibility of interruption.

While joined by the love for their baby, he has taken all their emotional space. Julie is missing Juan and the experiences they shared before becoming parents. A cup of tea doesn’t feel like much, yet it also feels enormous. She is aware that they have lost the ease of communication that she used to experience. Julie also knows that they can retrieve it but it comes with attention and practice. Now that baby Oliver is sleeping longer stretches, Julie feels a need to nurture their couple. As her mind wanders back to candlelit dinners where they had the time to explore, wonder, and create together, she finds herself longing for the company of her husband, not just Oliver’s dad and the crib assembler.

Julie’s message to us as we approach Valentine’s Day is that a weekly cup of tea to talk, share, and be together can beat a box of chocolate or even the reddest rose.

Peggy H. Kaufman, MEd, LICSW is the founding director of the JF&CS Center for Early Relationship Support. With a background in perinatal emotional health and the growth and development of parents, her interests include the earliest relationships. Ms. Kaufman is the recipient of multiple awards for her groundbreaking programs and her commitment to increase awareness of postpartum depression and maternal and infant mental health.

Changing Lives One Visit at a Time

Mon, 29 Dec 2014 18:09:00 GMT

JF&CS News Fall 2014

A Visiting Mom for almost ten years, Audrey Schuster describes her experience with the program as “amazing and powerful. Visiting Moms gives my life balance and I am grateful to be a part of it. I’m not sure who gets more - me, or the new mom.” Trained by JF&CS staff, Visiting Moms provide support during the challenging months after the birth of a child. Founded 25 years ago, the program has served nearly 2,800 culturally and economically diverse families in 66 communities.

Audrey came to JF&CS in 2004, when the eldest of her three children went off to college. A self-described “homemaker extraordinaire,” she realized that one-third of her professional life as a mom had downsized. She wanted to find the right opportunity to fill the void of her dwindling business as a mom. “I wanted to be a part of something, to be relevant, to be purposeful. I believe there is nothing more important or noble than the business of motherhood.” So Audrey contacted JF&CS after a friend had mentioned the Visiting Moms program to her and soon, she became a Visiting Mom.

“I have three rules that I try to live by when it comes to my family,” Audrey points out. “Show up, keep your heart and mind open, and listen with empathy and without judgment. I feel like I can make a difference just by showing up and being present, even if I don’t have all the answers. I can simply listen and offer a hug.” Audrey applies those three rules to her role as Visiting Mom, as well.

“New moms often feel that they are not doing enough or ‘right’ by their baby. Normal struggles can feel insurmountable to a new mom. The loneliness, isolation, constant doubt and questioning can take their toll. But I always see something beautiful and amazing. It might be as simple as commenting on how comfortable the mom is holding her baby, or how the baby responds to the mom’s voice. Sometimes I just listen,” Audrey explains. “We might be strangers, from different backgrounds, but when we are together in a room, it’s just two moms sharing a common bond. For that one hour, we are present and we are connected, which is no easy feat in today’s high-tech world.” Some new moms find that their own mothers or other family members can be extremely judgmental in their first few months as new moms. “Mothers can be harsh. Friends and family member can mean well, but their advice can come off as negative or overly critical. Visiting Moms offer no judgment and can step away from cultural norms. What might be ‘normal’ for another mom might not work for you. Just allowing a Visiting Mom in is a big step,” she adds.

“I tell moms that maybe they won’t get things done and it won’t be the end of the world. It won’t always be like this. I tell them not to compare themselves to other moms because every situation is unique. I tell them to allow the baby to be their Zen.”

Audrey’s passion for the Visiting Moms program recently reached a new plateau when she chaired the JF&CS Women’s Breakfast in June. “I wanted to honor the other Visiting Moms for their hard work and dedication. I also wanted to raise awareness of this outstanding program and get people in the community to share in supporting this amazing cause,” she acknowledges. Audrey set the tone by making a very generous leadership gift to the program in the hope that others would follow her example.

Her hard work certainly paid off: the 2014 Women’s Breakfast brought in double the amount ever raised at previous breakfasts as well as double the number of attendees. “We are grateful to Audrey for her outstanding leadership in chairing this event and surpassing all expectations. She has inspired both friends and strangers to give. She brought incredible passion, vigor, and élan to this project. Audrey takes my breath away,” emphasized Rimma Zelfand, CEO of JF&CS.

Raising money for Visiting Moms is just one prong; the other prong is to raise awareness in the community. “Once we do that, we can help even more people. All women can relate to this - younger ones wish they had this program when they were new moms, and older ones wish they had this for their daughters. Many of the new moms say that they are in awe of the Visiting Moms. We, in turn, are in awe of them,” Audrey affirms.

“To see all of these unpaid volunteers come together to help others is such a beautiful experience. The power of selflessness can be very strong. I get back as much as I give to this program and I’ve learned a lot about how to be with my own family,” Audrey concludes. “They say ‘a mother is born, but not always when her child is.’”

Sometimes all it takes is the sympathetic presence of a Visiting Mom. In Audrey’s case, the families she has helped, along with her own family, can consider themselves fortunate to have had such a remarkable presence in their lives.

In honor of our 150th anniversary, JF&CS published a special 150th anniversary newsletter. View a PDF of the entire newsletter online.

A Journey of Motherhood

Mon, 22 Dec 2014 14:08:00 GMT

JF&CS News Fall 2014

When you look at Anna* and her bright, happy baby, you would never think that the two were recently homeless. Yet, last year they became one of more than 4,800 families in the emergency assistance shelter program in Massachusetts.

Anna herself never thought she would be homeless. But shortly after her daughter was born, she experienced some set-backs. With her husband in Africa, and no family to support her, Anna and her baby found themselves with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. They began living at the Home Suites Inn in Waltham, which houses many homeless families.

For the new mother, the isolation of living in the hotel felt like a prison. With no access to public transportation and no social connections, Anna began to feel depressed. “I knew something was wrong,” she said. “The feelings I was having were different from the feelings of regular stress.”

To be the mother she wanted to be, Anna needed help, which she found at the JF&CS Center for Early Relationship Support®. She started attending the Postpartum Depression (PPD) Support Group, aptly called “This Isn’t What I Expected.” Anna also received therapeutic visits at the hotel from an Early Connections® clinician.

These support meetings gave Anna a feeling of community that could only come from other mothers like herself. An added benefit was that it gave her something to look forward to each week. She describes arriving for her first PPD group. “Just standing in the JF&CS lobby felt good. The receptionist said, ‘Isn’t it a beautiful day?’ and I smiled and said yes it is!”

In addition to these services, Anna receives weekly visits from Tracy, a home visitor from the JF&CS Visiting Moms® program. Visiting Moms are trained to help mothers gain confidence in their new role as parents. They visit the new mothers in their home – wherever that home might be.

Anna admits that she was nervous meeting Tracy for the first time; she was afraid her Visiting Mom might judge her as a mother. But after meeting Tracy, that fear immediately went away. As Anna says, “With Tracy, I felt relaxed, free, and comfortable. Most of all, I felt human again.”

Through her hard work and with the help of CERS, Anna has worked through much of her depression and is much more confident in her abilities as a mother. The services she received also helped her to move forward with her life. She recently passed the exam to become a registered nurse, something she says she had wanted to do but “just couldn’t put all the pieces together to make happen.”

In April, her husband was able to join her from Africa. The reunited family is now living happily in an apartment in Boston.

Anna is full of gratitude for all of the ways JF&CS has helped her. She says the support she received was “like light in the darkness. Before, I felt alone and lost, without a way forward. The services I got from JF&CS were the light I needed. I just had to follow the light to get on the right path.”

*Name changed to protect privacy.

In honor of our 150th anniversary, JF&CS published a special 150th anniversary newsletter. View a PDF of the entire newsletter online.

Perspectives from the “Mother” of CERS

Wed, 17 Dec 2014 19:13:00 GMT

JF&CS News Fall 2014

When Peggy Kaufman, MEd, LICSW, joined JF&CS 25 years ago, she was tasked to develop a family support group. At the time, most groups focused on families with older children. But Peggy believed strongly that connections, support, and nurturing must begin at pregnancy, or at least when the baby is a newborn. Thus the JF&CS Center for Early Relationship Support® (CERS) was born!

From the start, the mission of CERS has been to support mothers and their babies as they begin their relationship together. In 1989, CERS served 21 moms with 17 community volunteers and one staff. Today, 70 volunteers and 35 staff support close to 5,000 people every year from all cultures and religions throughout Greater Boston and the North Shore. The center recognizes that nurturing maternal strengths within a caring community promotes secure infant-parent relationships.

“I am not aware of any other program that offers the range of interconnected programs, providing both support and intervention for a family that is pregnant or has a new baby,” says Peggy. “Whether a mom has postpartum anxiety, is frozen in the relationship with her baby, or has experienced trauma earlier in her life, we are able to serve as a comprehensive resource, providing a multitude of services as well as a close network of external experts.”

CERS has helped countless families with invaluable guidance and resources through its well-known Lauren & Mark Rubin Visiting Moms® program as well as through clinical interventions, parent consultations, and professional training.

One mom, who participated in a new mother’s group for 10 months after her baby was born, recounted how people she met are still her closest friends and that connecting with them changed her life.

Another mom, who received support from the CERS program for parents with preemies, said the JF&CS staff taught her that she could be more than just a “medical mom” to her very sick baby. The staff supported her in the NICU, reminding her who she was, who her baby was, and all she could be for her preemie.

We asked Founding Director Peggy Kaufman to reflect on a quarter century of providing support to new parents and why the center has been so successful. Here is what she had to say:

Ubiquitous Motherhood
First-time mothers face many of the same concerns and joys from generation to generation. “A lot of women who volunteer for CERS do so because they remember their early experience of being a new mother – the isolation, the uncertainty of what to do, of how to be, when to call, whom to call – it is the toughest job and there is no roadmap,” says Peggy. “Every parent and baby is different, and we need to build buffers of support. Some volunteers had babies 45 years ago, and they had the same experience women are having today.”

Changing Times
While many factors impacting infant-parent relationships have not changed, many have. In the past 10 years, Peggy notes, the economy has had a significant effect on families, especially among the working and middle class. Families that were able to do well enough on one income no longer can. And some cannot afford extra necessities like a special sleeper rocker for a baby with terrible reflux or time off for a mother who experienced a traumatic birth and is in no way ready to return to work. “Economic changes have had a huge impact on families being able to make choices in the interest of their healing and care for their babies,” Peggy says.

CERS Meets the Challenges
To help serve the greater volume and scope of needs, which can require time-consuming research and legwork, CERS recently hired a family resource coordinator and established a vulnerable families team. Peggy says these resources provide the missing personal connections and community support needed by parents to manage day-to-day.

“What’s exciting about CERS is that we’re able to respond to changing needs,” Peggy explains. “JF&CS has built a foundation of services that allows us to adapt and adjust to different populations. Our structure also enables us to continuously deepen and enrich the work we do.” For example, CERS now provides long-term service to babies and families who have very complex histories, such as substance exposure.

“It is reassuring to note that what we imagined to be important 25 years ago – supporting families at the earliest stages of parenthood – has been scientifically proven 25 years later in research on brain development,” adds Peggy. Necessity, and lots of imagination, are truly the mother of invention.

In honor of our 150th anniversary, JF&CS published a special 150th anniversary newsletter. View a PDF of the entire newsletter online.