What is the purpose of School-based Outreach?
The purpose of School-based Outreach is to is to help the families of school-age children with the services they need to stay in school and be healthy. Sometimes children are living in shelters and can’t get a ride to school, or are staying home to care for a younger sibling so a parent can work, or aren’t getting medical attention for a chronic condition. Teachers know something is “wrong”, but they don’t know what and can’t “fix” it. The child is referred by school staff and a D.A. Blodgett social worker is assigned to the case.

So, a child’s school performance may be a first indicator that something is ‘wrong’?
Children are affected when their families don’t get — or cannot access — the help they need and deserve. School attendance and grades fall along with the child’s self-esteem and ability to catch up. School Based Outreach is designed to identify those children whose families qualify for special assistance and to help them through the maze of paperwork necessary to get it.

What is the role of D.A. Blodgett Services for Children in this program?
D.A. Blodgett Services for Children provides full time social workers to dozens of schools to help identify Medicaid-eligible families and get
them the services they need.

What specific services are available through School-based Outreach?
D.A. Blodgett for Children helps families break through the barriers that have kept them impoverished and/or their children out of school. Social workers help families learn to use the bus, help them access critical resources, links the family with rent support, offers counseling or substance abuse treatment, helps the family access Medicaid services, and provides referrals for other assistance as necessary, such as mental health services.

Who pays for these services?
School-Based Outreach is a joint project of D.A. Blodgett for Children, a large number of Kent County schools, and Network 180 (Kent County Community Mental Health). The assessment and referral services are free to families involved.

What does this have to do with D.A. Blodgett’s mission of “homes and hope for children”?
Everything! Children whose families need and deserve help but, for whatever reason, “fall through the cracks”, can wind up in foster care when it appears as though they are being neglected. By aggressively reaching out to these families before the children miss too much school or become chronically ill from lack of medical care, D.A. Blodgett for Children hopes to keep families together and children secure.