Regional Prevent Child Abuse manager to discuss Healthy Families, Healthy Start

Susan Moore, program manager for the East Tennessee region of Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee, will be the featured speaker at a February meeting of Women’s Interfaith Dialogue of Oak Ridge.

Moore will discuss “Healthy Families, Healthy Start: A home-visiting program promoting the well-being of children.”

The meeting will start at 11 a.m. Monday, February 2, in the Entry Forum of the Jewish Congregation at 101 West Madison Lane.

Moore has been helping families cope with the multiple stressors facing many of our community’s families today, and has more than 20 years of experience dealing with children’s issues, a press release said. Her office is located in the Oak Ridge branch.

In a summary of her presentation, Moore points out that many families today face multiple challenges including single-parent status, low income, mental health issues, substance abuse problems, and domestic violence.

“A new baby oftentimes adds an additional layer of stress and anxiety to an already stressful situation,” Moore said in the release. “Our trained home visitors help families cope with multiple stressors.”

During home visits, she added, home visitors guide families in the process of identifying their needs and setting goals, learning how to interact with their children to encourage early bonding, linking families with a medical home to receive necessary health care services, referring families to resources, and providing much-needed emotional support.

The program model is built upon 12 critical elements derived from more than 30 years of research. Healthy Families/Healthy Start is proved to: reduce child maltreatment; increase the use of prenatal care and decrease pre-term, low weight babies; improve parent-child interaction and school readiness; decrease dependency on welfare; increase access to primary care medical services; and increase immunization rates.

Moore has degrees in business administration and elementary education. Prior to joining this organization two years ago, she worked in family intervention, taught elementary school, and has more than 12 years of work experience in business administration. She has two college-age daughters, is a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the American Marketing Association, and lives in Oak Ridge.

The meeting is free and open to the public. Donations are welcome.

The Women’s Interfaith Dialogue brings together women of diverse faith, color and culture to explore, understand and learn from one another for the purpose of advancing justice, compassion friendship and human rights, with a focus on women and children.