Rebecca Bliss, Coordinator at Dawson County Family Connection, doesn’t think of the organization’s 2022 goals as daunting. In fact, the words jump from her lips with passion and purpose. Rebecca knows that when community partners work together to intentionally focus on the physical, emotional, and social wellbeing of hurting children, the positive outcomes of these efforts impact our community in lasting and measurable ways. For these precious children, collaboration translates to healing and hope.
Working with 159 counties within the Georgia network, the dedicated team at Dawson County Family Connection strives to provide every single child in the county an opportunity to live, learn, and grow in a safe and healthy environment. This “all-hands-on-deck” approach to restoring broken families and establishing measurable objectives to protect and nurture vulnerable children is where the Associated Credit Union Foundation steps in.
Caring for Our Community isn’t just something we say; it’s something we do. And we do it well. That’s why once a month, you’ll find Matt Wall, Associated Credit Union branch manager at our Dawsonville location, contributing to critical discussions about improving access to programs and services.
During each Community Collaborative Meeting, hosted by Dawson County Family Connection, leaders gather to uncover and talk about “service gaps and inefficiencies” that may lead to disconnections, instabilities, and, ultimately, the breakdown of the family structure. As a united front, these civic leaders sift through complicated situations, tackle important social issues, and create strategies for sustainable change.
Every child should have a safe place to turn to when sad days and scary moments enter their little worlds. Sadly, for many children, this place of rest cannot be found on their own. We have to cultivate it for them.
Because ACUF generously supports Dawson County Family Connection, we help build bridges to wellbeing and create a space where problems can be identified and community advocates can have a helping hand in the solution. This is the power of connection and the embodiment of collaboration.
The strong partnership allows the Collaborative Committee in Dawsonville to have a constant pulse on specific needs in the community and immediately begin to implement effective ways to get children and families connected to resources that will have the most significant impact on their wellbeing.
When the staff at Dawson County Family Connection and community partners sat down to discuss this year’s objectives, two of the most pressing issues quickly surfaced, and a plan of attack to safeguard children and families was launched:
Improve mental wellness
Improve family stability
A healthy family structure typically sets a child on a path to becoming an emotionally stable, productive member of society, but when this foundation is absent or corrupt, urgent attention must be given to the situation. At times, to put an immediate stop to emotional or physical harm, or when it is no longer safe for children to remain in the home, they are removed and placed, temporarily, into a dynamic family environment we all know as foster care.
With roughly 80 at-risk youths currently in the foster care system in Dawson county and only nine local families to care for these children, the dire need for healthy family representation is imperative, but there is hope.
Dawson County Family Connection fills the gap between critical needs and relevant, available resources. Rebecca adds, “To grow family stability, one of this year’s goals is to increase local fostering to promote higher rates of reunification in our county.”
When the communities we serve speak, ACUF listens. So, when we hear that children and families are in crisis, we step up to share the burden and lessen the load. Together we demonstrate ACUF’s core values and an extraordinary belief in Our Community.
On March 1st, ACUF presented a check for $5,000 to Dawson County Family Connection to assist with distributing wellness brochures, forming a family support group, and much-needed recruitment and training of foster care candidates.
When you donate time or money to the ACUF, your gift goes much further than you will ever be able to see, but the impact of the hope you give is visible, contagious, and undeniable today. Your generosity helps create life-changing opportunities for young children and families to become healthy and resilient. Because of you, they have a bridge to wellbeing and hopeful futures.