Children and Youth Social Services
The Helen Ross McNabb Center offers numerous social service programs for
children and youth including:
Children and Youth Homeless Outreach Program
The Children and Youth Homeless Outreach Program is specifically designed to meet the needs of children ages three to 18 who reside in Knox County and are suffering from severe emotional disturbances related to homelessness. Outreach workers strive to enable children to cope with lifestyle stresses by offering treatment options within the community and by assisting with finding housing opportunities for their families. Program staff works closely with Knoxville area homeless shelters, schools and other community agencies to ensure that these goals are met.
Healthy Families East Tennessee
Healthy Families East Tennessee covering Knox, Blount, Jefferson, Sevier and Loudon counties, is an innovative program that focuses on first-time parents, and begins during pregnancy if possible. It is designed to prevent child abuse and neglect through education, intervention and strengthening the family before negative parenting practices begin. Healthy Families is a voluntary home visitation program that provides support and education through individual and group activities as well as a full range of case management services. Emphasis is placed on medical checkups, immunizations, family planning, developmental screenings, early brain development and stimulation and school readiness.
Mother Goose
The Mother Goose Program teaches crucial interaction in the formative first steps of an infant's life. The program creates important infant stimulation groups for children up to 30 months of age. Parents or caretakers focus on visual development, knowledge needs, and language skills of their infant. Mother Goose teaches parents how to interact with their children, and how to stimulate their children's curiosity and develop their concentration using play, music, and reading or reciting stories.
The program has 12 groups each month. The locations of the groups are located at Knoxville Center Mall in the UT classroom on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays each month and at Cokesbury Center during the 2nd and the 4th Thursdays each month(Walkers 9am - 9:45am, Crawlers 10am - 10:45am, Lap Babies 11am - 11:45am). It is $5.00 a session per family or an option of purchasing a Season Pass that would be good for 1 year as of date of purchase. The Season Pass would be accepted at both locations.
Teaching Resilience and Creating Strengths (TRACS)
The TRACS program is designed to operate as an after school program four hours a week for approximately 15 weeks. It will be held at the John Tarleton center off Sutherland Avenue. The targeted age group to be served is children ages 10-14. At risk factors resulting in eligibility for services include substance abusing parents, witnessing domestic violence, victims of violence and trauma, placement into foster care, poor school performance, truancy, poverty, experimental use, emotional issues, and alcohol and drug exposure.
