Balancing Act

Balancing Act
By Michael Maldonado







On Thursday, October 4, Team Heroes attended the official presentation/tour for the Center for Children & Families, Inc. During the presentation, several directors within the organization spoke to us about the mission, needs and general operations of CCFI. Many other students in the class have probably heard the two CCFI groups lament over the somewhat contradictory objectives that have been presented to us. CCFI wants everyone in the community to instantly think of them when discussing organizations related to children and family development but they do not want to raise any funds or take on any more clients or volunteers. While overcoming this challenge is at the top of our groups’ priorities, an entirely different challenge occurred to me during the CCFI visit. How do the people at organizations that witness some of society’s most heartbreaking issues put their judgments and emotions on hold to do this kind of work?

CCFI is no stranger to seeing some horribly traumatic cases come through their doors. Our group was briefly told some examples of cases where children are neglected, abused and underdeveloped. Working on the public relations side of the organization, we do not even witness these things first hand. This is just a group project for a campaigns class for us. However, this is not just a project for Whitney Russell, the person in charge of communications at CCFI. She sees these things every day when she goes to work and is expected to put her sadness and anger aside in order to do her job.

Thinking about Whitney’s job brought me to yet another realization. The idea is not to leave one’s emotions at home but, rather, to bring them to work and incorporate them into the job. CCFI is one of Norman’s largest family development organizations and it is constantly seeing clients and helping families. Executive Director Linda Terrell told our group that she has seen miracles happen at CCFI. This is because everyone at the organization puts so much passion into what they do—from the Executive Director to the child therapist to the person in charge of communications. Linda Terrell explained that part of the CCFI philosophy is to treat all people involved in incoming cases (whether they are abusers or the abused) with a loving attitude. This is where the healing begins.

When considering a career in public relations, many people are somewhat hesitant to enter the non-profit arena. Not only do opportunities in the non-profit world seem less glamorous than some of the more sensationalized PR careers that seem to get more media attention, but they also occasionally deal with clients with very upsetting issues. Imagine doing PR every day for an organization such as Bryan’s House which helps children who are infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS. The emotional strain of doing work for an organization like Bryan’s House is undoubtedly difficult. However, it is important to understand how doing PR for such an organization has an immensely positive outcome for everyone involved.

The CCFI visit really gave me a different perspective on the work Team Heroes is doing for them. While it may be painful to hear about some of the issues that they have to deal with, the rewards of sharing CCFI’s message and aiding in the mission of the organization seem priceless. Having an emotional tie to them may also help us do an even better job.

Ever heard of CCFI? Neither have I...

For the nearly 40 years that CCFI, the Center for Children and Families,Inc., has been around, it has never had a public relations practitioner. For a non-profit organization that helps children in abusive or troubled families, not having someone to write news releases or send out advertisements , well, no one in the community gets a fair chance to hear about it and the great services it offers.

CCFI started in 1969 as a place where “juveniles” who didn’t have a safe place to stay could find refuge from troubling situations. Now I say juveniles in quotation marks because it’s not the juvenile delinquents we automatically think of when we see the word. In this instance, juvenile just means someone under the age of 18.

The Center for Children and Families hasn’t always been the name of the organization. In 1972, CCFI was known as JSI, Juvenile Services Inc. It later became known as CCFI in 1999 when the definition of Juvenile took a turn from minor to delinquent.
CCFI currently has 5 different programs offered for clients: Divorce Visitation Arbitration, Neighborhood Centers, Teenage Parenting, Parents Assistance and Extended Families.

As you might have thought, the Divorce Visitation Arbitration program provides assistance to families where the parents are separated or going through a divorce. It’s something that is offered not only to reduce stress in the children’s lives, but also to help the parents.



The Neighborhood Centers program gives chances for small communities to come together and build strong relationships.

Teenage Parenting, a growing, national problem, offers supports to teens that are pregnant or who have already have had the child.

Parents Assistance is specifically focused on helping and educating parents who are going through troubles times at home.

And finally, the Extended Families Program provides children under the age of 18, who have parents that are dealing with unfortunate circumstances, a place to stay for a short time.

Even though CCFI is funded by the United Way, they only give a small portion of funding. CCFI could always use more donations and more volunteers.

As mentioned above, CCFI has had no former publicity, but still they have a full house of clients. Think of all the extra help some publicity will do.

Helping to Raise Awareness on Child Abuse

Whenever the subject of child abuse is mentioned, the first thing that usually pops into our heads is physical child abuse, where the parents beat and/or sexually abuse their child. However, what we do not think about are the other types of abuse endured by children, such as: emotional, spiritual and verbal. While the physical abuse is visually noticeable, all forms of abuse have the same negative affects.

Carnival Against Child Abuse is just one of many blogs who raise awareness on child abuse. They discuss all elements of child abuse as well as highlight stories of child abuse survivors. And Safe Child, Child Abuse goes more into depth over each element of child abuse.

The Community Coalition Against Family Violence is a site that gives different tips on how to prevent abuse and has a list services for victims. They report that one in three girls is sexually abused by the age of eighteen, and one in six boys.

What’s great about these blogs and websites, like Child Welfare Information Gateway is that they not only have links pertaining to defining and identifying child abuse; they also have links dedicating to preventing and responding to abuse.

Sites such as Kids First accept donations to help educate professionals on child abuse issues and to provide direct assistance to the abused children. Organizations such as these rely heavily on public donations to meet operating costs.

Before doing this research, I was not aware of the alarming statistics about child abuse. It’s amazing to me that parents are even capable of doing such things. Parents are supposed to love and nurture their children, not harm and abuse them.