With a wide range of human-service initiatives, local nonprofit Parents And Children Together operates with the overarching goal of working together with Hawaii’s children, individuals and families to create safe and promising futures for all kamaaina. Today, community members, teachers, students and parents alike are coming together to support the statewide agency’s mission through its largest annual fundraiser, Keiki Day, the proceeds of which go toward funding across18 ohana-based programs, including a family visitation center and support services on Kauai.
Parents And Children Together, also known as PACT, has had a presence on Kauai since the 1990s, and continues to run the Kauai Family Visitation Center to provide the opportunity for court-ordered, non-custodial parents to have a safe and family-like home setting to visit with their children. According to Marie Vorsino, vice president of Intervention Programs at PACT Kauai, promoting a healthy connection between children and their parents is a necessity and can go a long way in terms of a child’s ability to grow and develop interpersonal and problem-solving skills.
“At our family visitation center, children and parents can play games, they can have a meal, and it’s completely monitored and supervised,” said Vorsino. “It’s a really nice opportunity for them to build that relationship in a safe and neutral environment.”
Vorsino added that, due to the program’s success, PACT has seen an increase in families using the visitation center over the past few years. “You can have two parents, who may not be getting along, who can come in and do a voluntary family visitation. These families might have had issues between the parents, in terms of domestic violence or restraining orders, so it’s an important resource for the community,” she explained.
PACT is a family-service agency that assists over 15,000 people a year. The nonprofit’s programs are aimed at working closely with local families and individuals to build relationships that enable them to overcome struggles such as poverty, abuse and access to education. The organization started in 1968 as a single program in Kalihi, Oahu, and has grown to offer services across Maui, Molokai, Lanai and the Big Island, in addition to Oahu and Kauai. PACT offers facilities such as family centers, domestic violence shelters and transitional housing to residents statewide, and its programs span early childhood education, mental health support, youth development and community building, domestic violence, and child abuse treatment and prevention.
Proceeds from sales of today’s special TGI Keiki Day edition allow PACT to continue the work that they do on Kauai and throughout the state. The special-edition papers are also sold across the state and copies will be made available to students in classrooms statewide as gifts from sponsors and donors.
Funding from Keiki Day can be used wherever it is needed most, a critical component to covering key programs that may not otherwise have funding.
Building on the nonprofit’s belief that every child deserves to follow their dreams, regardless of their personal circumstances, this year’s Keiki Day theme is “Dare to Dream.” As in years past, children across the state have participated in the cause by submitting artwork and essays based on this year’s theme to the Creativity Contest for elementary, middle and high-school students. This year, contest winners on Kauai were Jonah Gandeza, Ameliarose Reynolds, Tiffany Ferrer, Chance Kawakami, Sofia Brosiuse and Daniel M. Martinez III.
In addition to the Family Visitation Center, PACT also offers an Intensive Support Services Program on island to assist families whose children have serious emotional, social and behavioral challenges. These services are designed to increase parental participation and include Multisystemic Therapy (MST), an intervention model for children with willful misconduct disorder. MST helps the family to supervise and support their child’s adjustment to the community.
Aside from Keiki Day, PACT secures funding from federal and state contracts — and donations from private gifts and grants. At the end of the day, however, the nonprofit’s mission isn’t to make money: it’s about keeping families together, starting with supporting local children.
“We have families that stay with us quite a long time and it’s rewarding to see improvements in how the parent interacts with their child,” Vorsino said.
For more information, go to www.pacthawaii.org.
