Untitled Document
Center teaches parents how to take charge of their
own lives
By DUSTY RHODES
Parents who enroll in the family literacy program at
Lawrence Adult Education Center get more than reading, writing, and
arithmetic. They get parenting classes, help finding child care, coaching
on how to deal with their kids’ problems at school, workshops on
dealing with domestic violence, guided instruction on getting the most out
of the public library, and tips on navigating the network of social-service
agencies to find anything else they might need.
What do any of these bells and whistles have to do
with earning a high-school diploma, a GED, or vocational training? They
help clear away obstacles and distractions that have prevented the young
parents from focusing on education.
Take parents who must skip work or their own classes
when their children misbehave in school. If they agree, Barbara Rochelle,
Lawrence’s family literacy specialist, will accompany the parents to
their kids’ “individual educational plan” meetings to
help them learn to advocate for their children. “If there’s a problem child,
there’s a troubled parent,” Rochelle says, “so in order
to help the mother focus on her goals we try to bring stability within the
household.”
Rochelle’s boss, literacy program coordinator
Bonnie Roberts, says the key to maximizing services is resisting the
impulse to tackle challenges for the parents and instead teaching the
parents how to solve problems themselves. For example, if a parent needs
help paying utility bills, Roberts and Rochelle won’t line up
financial assistance, but they will invite the parent into their office and
provide a small yellow directory of social-service agencies, plus a
telephone, a notepad, and a pen. Similarly, students in the family literacy program
get assignments every week to find certain information in Lincoln Library. “Many of
them have never entered a library — going into a place with a lot of
books is not something they would necessarily choose to do — but they
end up discovering that it’s like a support system for them,”
Roberts says. “They can go there and explore legal issues, parenting
concerns, and get help for homework.”
“They can rent movies and get computer access
— they love all of that,” Rochelle says. Rochelle treads a fine line between doing for these
young moms and helping them learn to do things for themselves, Roberts
says. “If they have a struggle, Barbara won’t
do things for them, but she will be a sounding board and help them vent to
the point where they can figure out what they need to do to solve their
problem themselves,” Roberts says. “She’s very strong in
not doing anything for the parents that they can do for themselves, and I
think that builds a lot of respect.”
This year, the parents achieved a new milestone after
reading with their children the book Beatrice’s
Goat — the true story of a young Ugandan
girl and her economic upturn after her family receives the gift of a goat.
The Lawrence students held a bake sale at the school and used the $200
proceeds to buy a goat, a flock of geese, and some chickens to send to
Africa through the Heifer Project International.
“Many of the families who come to our program
are receiving public aid. They have the mentality of having things done for
them, and through this [book] there was a shift,” Roberts says. “They went from a sense of entitlement to a
sense of empowerment,” Rochelle says.
Contact Dusty Rhodes at drhodes@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in May 22-28, 2008.
