Society for the Protection and Care of Children

 

Extending our focus on last month’s National Foster Care Awareness theme, we highlight the Society for the Protection and Care of Children (SPCC). The county-run visitation and pediatric center provides a neutral environment for families after a child has been removed from the home and placed in foster care. SPCC offers supervised visits and a parent education curriculum for caregivers, while Starlight Pediatrics offers well-child visits and addresses any medical concerns for the child.

“The Visitation Center was developed as a one-stop shop for families with children in care, to bring everything together in one building,” said Lisa D’Orsi, Infant Family Reflective Supervisor and Program Manager of Supervised Visitation Programming at SPCC. D’Orsi has specialized training in Infant Mental Health. Visitation Specialists use this training together with the Nurturing Parenting Program, a parent education curriculum provided by SPCC, to help families explore the beliefs and values around parenting.

 

“We find that oftentimes there are ‘ghosts in the nursery,’ or influences from the parent’s childhood, that drive a parent’s beliefs and actions when parenting their own children.” D’Orsi continued, “We open the door for conversations and education, with the goal of avoiding a return to the system for the family.”

 

Once a family is referred to SPCC (typically through Monroe County DHS or Monroe County Family Court), Visitation Specialists and clinicians work with them to heal and strengthen relationships, as they advocate for the health, well-being and safety of the children involved. By partnering with children and their families in a safe space, SPCC aims toward transitioning children placed in foster care back to the home, for the goal of family reunification.

 

Families referred to the Supervised Visitation Program (SVP) are offered weekly supportive, child-focused visits in a friendly, homelike environment, which balances the need for safety and security with the need for quality time between parents and their children. Three different methods of visit supervision are provided: continuous supervision in room, continuous supervision outside of the room, and intermittent monitoring.
 

Currently, SPCC operates seven programs which together serve over 7,000 individuals a year. Programs include: Mary Ellen Institute; Supervised Visitation Program; Therapeutic Visitation Program; Teen Age Parent Support Services; Family Trauma Intervention Program; Healthy Families Monroe; and the Finger Lakes WIC Program serving clients in Eastern Monroe, Wayne, Ontario, Yates and Seneca counties.

 

“The Visitation Center has evolved over the last decade,” said Denise Reifsteck, Program Manager for the Therapeutic Visitation Program (TVP) at SPCC. “In what started out as a traditional visitation model, we began to see a need for a therapeutic lens during supervised visits, especially where significant trauma has occurred.”

 

The Therapeutic Visitation Program (TVP) works with children ages 0-18 and their families in need of supervised visitation, with a focus on family therapy to promote healing from past traumas.  

 

“When a child has experienced significant abuse, perpetrated by the parents, a partner, or someone else in the family,” explained Reifsteck, “it affects their sense of security. The TVP works with the child and family to heal the relationship through parent-child psychotherapy, play therapy and art therapy.”

 

The program pulls from theoretical foundations of attachment, psychodynamic and family systems theories. All clinicians are master’s level therapists with trauma-informed training and expertise in transitional planning and support.

 

“When it’s time for reunification, weeks or months may have passed, so we’re mindful of the sensitivities of bringing everyone back together in the same place,” said Reifsteck. “All of the work we’ve done together informs our treatment plan for moving forward.”
 

“Supervised and Therapeutic Visitation Programs work hand-in-hand in most cases,” D’Orsi said. “Cases are very fluid between programs, so we are able to create a service plan that is most supportive for the child and their family.”

 

SPCC clinicians are trained in writing reports and summaries that are presented in court. Caseworkers and SPCC providers work together in transitioning the family to less restrictive visitation over time.

 

“An added benefit for families using services at SPCC is that they are able to meet others going through the same thing,” said D’Orsi. “There is an outdoor play area where kids can interact, so it’s not an isolating experience. You see parents supporting each other, making connections and building community.”

 

Reifsteck stressed the power of having an open mind, and being curious about another person’s experience and point of view, which may be different from our own. “We believe that parents want to change and grow,” concluded D’Orsi.

In 1875, the neighbors of a young girl named Mary Ellen noticed that something wasn’t right at home. At the time, no organization existed to support children who were being maltreated. The neighbors enlisted the help of Henry Bergh, who had created the first Society for The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

 

Bergh’s involvement led to the first child protection case in the nation, and later to the creation of the first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, incorporated in NYC where Mary Ellen lived. Court documents show that she was removed from her home and intentionally placed outside the city where she could thrive. A family in Rochester was chosen as her foster care home. She eventually married, raised her own family, and lived out the remainder of her life here.

 

In 1994, the organization changed its name to the Society for the Protection and Care of Children (SPCC). Volunteers advocated for the creation of the first Children’s Court—now known as Family Court—in Monroe County. SPCC was the first in the country to provide child protective services and to organize foster care for abused children.

 

SPCC founded the Mary Ellen Institute (MEI), named in honor of the young child at the heart of SPCC’s origin, who found healing and health after an early childhood full of trauma and adversity through caring and skilled professionals.

 

One of Mary Ellen’s daughters, Florence Brasser, worked as a schoolteacher in the Gates-Chili School District, which memorialized her outstanding contributions by naming one of their grammar schools after her.