Coronavirus Updates

August 10, 2020  -  Executive Director COVID-19 Update

It is hard to believe that it’s been 6 months already since we received our first shipment of Personal Protective Equipment back in February! That is when we began to make significant changes to policies, procedures, and to our family rooms as we implemented heightened personal and facility sanitation, hand washing, and what still seems like gallons of hand sanitizer.

Here we all are, 6 months later, and going strong with no cases of infection among our client families, staff, or volunteers! Hand washing, face masks (covering nose and mouth!!), social distancing, and protective barriers between staff and clients and between parent and child from different households while eating is now the norm. Most of our families who paused services when the state shutdown occurred, have returned. We continue to do virtual visitations for some families at higher risk for infection and will continue to do so going forward.

We are onboarding new families every week in our 2 Home Kids supervised visitation and safe exchange program. Our Transitions therapy and education programs -- virtually and in-person, are thriving! Some of the highest demand services now are parenting, co-parenting, and emotion (anger) management classes. Next in line? Couples therapy, parent-child interactive therapies, child play therapy, Family Court Services preparation, and a range of substance use services through our Substance Use Clinic (counseling - individual and family, outpatient education and treatment, forensic assessments, personal assessments).

Our Bridges services are being utilized at a higher rate as well. For example, we provide private rooms where children can participate digitally for court appearances and FCS interviews. The same service is utilized by some parents without access to the necessary electronics. Our Property Transfer service allows parents to drop off and pick up property without any contact, and with the knowledge that we have inventoried the property should a question arise. Bridges conducts Home Safety Checks, Home Welfare Checks for parents with a history of substance use challenges, and transitional services from agency-based to home-based services for our established families who are ready for the next step.

Please do not hesitate to reach out with your needs, questions, or feedback! We are here to serve you.

MS MA, LMFT

Executive Director

We are getting used to the new 'NORMAL"!

Hannah's House remained open throughout the pandemic as we provide essential services. We had no COVID-19 issues among staff or clients! We have over 3 months of experience with maintaining a safe environment for all of our clients,  staff and volunteers.

We continue to follow the disinfecting procedures we followed throughout the Great Pause, and we have added plastic barriers at work stations throughout the facility so there are multiple layers of protection between clients and staff. We have clear 6 foot markers in all rooms and hallways, including all of the family room.

Cloth masks are still available free to any client or family member who needs one. A neighborhood volunteer made 50 masks for our families as a donation. Debra Silva is definitely one of our heroes!

And now we will discover together a new and positive path into our shared futures.

Policies:

• No one with symptoms will be admitted to the building - screening questions are answered at the video monitor prior to admission. Applies to each person and any members of their household. This includes staff.
• If a client is required to reschedule due to symptoms, they will not be rescheduled until they have been symptom free without medications for a period of 72 hours.
• Masks must be worn by all persons at all times while inside the facility.
• Socially distancing markers are placed throughout the facility at 6 foot intervals and all persons are required to maintain that required distance.
• All persons are required to wash hands or use hand sanitizer upon entering the facility.
• When it is time for a family to eat together, the members will socially distance from each other as the masks will have to be removed; we have  plastic barriers available as well.
•  All toys, objects used during a session inside one of our Family Rooms must be placed in the basket by the door. Disinfectant sprays are in each room for parents who wish to disinfect during family time.

Basis for our C-19 policies as we move forward:

• Evolving research on transmission of new virus
• Local public health guidelines
• San Diego County guidelines
• San Diego City guidelines
• CDC Guidelines
• California Judicial Administrative Rules of Court 5.20 - Safety and security are our first priority, followed closely by health and well-being of children, parents, and providers.

Symptoms that require staying at home

• Sore throat
• Runny nose
• Cough
• Fever
• Muscle aches and pains
• Chills
• Shortness of breath
• Difficulty breathing

Please email us at [email protected] with any questions you may have about specific needs.

Join with us to create thriving children, strong families, and healthy communities.

MS MA, LMFT

Executive Director

GRATEFUL - THANKFUL - FULL HEART -  BLESSED - THANK YOUS!

First, to our parents and children for the absolutely amazing resilience they have demonstrated over the past 7 weeks as we have all worked together to adjust to life in the time of C-19.

Second, to every member of the Hannah's House Team of staff and volunteers, who have demonstrated compassion, a spirit of collaboration, and an enthusiastic "CAN-DO" attitude! I have been inspired by their tenacity and creativity.

And, finally, to our donors and community supporters who have contributed financially in support of continued family time for our court-ordered parenting time services; in-kind donations in the form of food, snacks, individual activity bags for the children, and handmade cloth masks for parents and children; and emergency operating funding to ensure we are able to continue our essential services to our communities for the duration.

WHAT'S IN A NUMBER

In just the month of April, we have proudly provided 238 services to our families and the community, served 752 people, and opened our doors every single day.

SPREAD THE WORD

We believe that the best gift that parents can give a child is the comfort and warmth of a positive relationship between parents, whether the couple lives together or separately. Our new Helpline is for all parents who find themselves feeling strain in the coparenting relationship - 1-833-OUR-KIDZ OR 1-833-687-5439. Please help us spread the word so we can bring our message of hope to even more parents working hard to be the best possible version of self for the child.

FREE VIRTUAL SUPPORT GROUPS - 1 FOR DADS & 1 FOR MOMS

Every Thursday evening, Dads gather in front of screens and join together to talk about challenges and successes in their parenting and co-parenting roles. On Friday evenings, it's the Moms turn. Email [email protected] to RSVP today!

And May the 4th be with you,

MS MA, LMFT

Update from the Executive Director - April 14, 2020

We created this page on March 14, 2020, and here we are at the one month mark! Hannah's House Board, Human Staff, Animal Staff, and Volunteers are honored that we have this incredible opportunity to be of service during this world-changing pandemic. All of our lives are being reshaped everyday, and we are all learning together how to support each other. We experiment together, we learn together, and we build new 'muscles' for connecting, caring, and showing compassion. Safety, security, and well-being have new layers of meaning now at Hannah's House. We provide masks and gloves to any client in need. We ensure that we continue sanitizing and disinfecting our rooms and toys after each use.

We provide parent-child time in a variety of ways to ensure that children do not lose a critical relationship with a parent,

(1) Onsite in a private family room with the Provider - 6 foot distances are marked on the floor in every room and throughout the facility. MASKS REQUIRED FOR ALL PARTIES.

(2) Skype and phone supervised parent-child time with the parent and child in separate locations.

(3) Skype and phone supervised parent-child time with the child in a private family room with the Provider at the agency, and the parent in their home. (ideal for DVTROs, DVROs, and CPOs)

(4) Telehealth Conjoint therapy

(5) Telehealth parent-child observation and coaching

(6) Please email us if you have a specific need we may be able to meet: [email protected]

We are launching a new service later this week! The Hannah's Family Center Helpline for parents throughout our county. We will provide a variety of services, including free counseling/consultation; referrals and resources; and access to our free co-parenting workshops and support groups!  Stay tuned for the launch.

We have provided vital services to San Diego County families since 1988 and the new Helpline will take us into the future and allow us to serve more parents and children. Our vision for our community: Strong families. Thriving children. Healthy communities.

We are in this together and there is always reason for hope. We can all find hope as we continue to support each other with care, compassion and a commitment to discovering peaceful resolutions.

MS MA, LMFT

April 7, 2020 Update from Executive Director

We start with a HUGE thank you to everyone involved with Hannah's House! Parents are working together to ensure that children stay in regular contact with both parents. It's wonderful to see so much positive parenting and cooperative coparenting! And thank you to volunteers, supporters and donors who are truly the wind beneath our wings!

And a big shout-out to a crew of US Navy volunteers who come in weekly to clean and wipe out our "Honey-Do" list in very short order. Believe me, they know how to clean and handle a task list!!  Of course, I am a Navy veteran so I might be prejudiced. GO NAVY!

Our dedicated staff are now dedicated to many new tasks:

• Screening each client to make sure no one enters the facility to receive services if they have a cough or fever or traveled out of the country recently.
• Wearing gloves as needed for disinfecting and sanitizing throughout our 4000 sq ft facility. Every child receives their own bag of toys, games, and activities that they leave at Hannah's House in a special spot between visits to ensure their health and safety!
• Ensuring all staff and clients are wearing face coverings to keep each other safe (in case you don't know, infants and toddlers will not wear masks!). Here are several easy ideas to make your own. https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/how-to-make-face-mask-diy_ca_5e8b8146c5b6e1a2e0f83728
• Ensuring that the tape lines for 6 foot distance throughout the facility are refreshed as needed to maintain that social distancing.
• Professionally greeting and serving each and every client we serve!

We are open and available for any family with a court order who is looking for a safe, professional and easy way to keep children engaged with both parents during this crisis. These services are critical for families with a history of domestic violence.

Children are Priority One!!

Email us today for information, intake and scheduling: [email protected]

MS MA, LMFT

Thank you to all our supporters for your continuing support and kindness. Hannah's House has been inspired by the generosity of our community coming together. Thank you for continuing to help us change lives to build strong families, thriving children, and strong communities.

I also want to thank our families, our team of Volunteers, our staff, our Board of Directors, and our network of community partners and supporters. These are challenging times for so many and we are grateful to be able to work together to find the best solutions for all of you! We want to recognize many of our parents who are working together to make the best decision for your child/ren and families. This spirit of cooperation, trust and respect towards each other and on behalf of your child/ren is truly inspiring. We respect all parenting decisions during this public health crisis, and we continue to ensure that the services that you need are provided to you in a safe, secure, reliable, and professional manner.

Our Transitions Family program is offering all therapy and educational classes via TeleHealth methods, including basic phone sessions for those without digital, virtual capability. We are here to serve you so do not hesitate to let us know your needs. We are working on moving our Free Support Groups and Free Monthly Coparenting Workshop (3rd Saturdays 10-12) to an easily accessible online meeting platform. [email protected]

Orientations for new clients in our 2 Home Kids Program -- supervised visitation and safe exchange -- are available in person, by phone, and by online virtual platforms. Visit our website (https://hannahs-house.org/families-start-here/get-started/) to fill out your screening form which is automatically sent to the appropriate email for processing.

If you don't know who to email about a need, please email us at [email protected] and we will ensure someone responds promptly. Take good care of yourself and each other! And see our parenting tip for the day here.

MS MA, LMFT

March 24, 2020

Since the SD Court is open for DV matters, we are available to assist those parents. Services available right now:

Safe exchanges - see the notice on this page for No Contact / No Entry procedures.

Waiting Room to Waiting Room safe exchanges are still available when 1 or both parents requests that service. Staff wear protective gear (masks and gloves) and maintain a 6' distance. All areas in the facility are cleaned and disinfected daily. We are still available for onsite visits for any parent who decides that is the best choice for your family - the person with legal custody decides. If legal custody is shared and you can agree, we will schedule. If there is no agreement, we will not proceed. We only allow 1 family to use a room and then close it to be cleaned and disinfected. We are limiting the number of visits daily to ensure that cleaning and disinfecting is completed. The norm is closure of a family room until the following day. Our landlord continues to do deep cleaning and disinfecting of the common areas.

We have waived our cancellation fee policies and require no documentation other than "for reasons related to COVID-19."

Please see the virtual options for parents who wish to continue the parent-child contact in a virtual visit in the presence of a professional supervisor.

Please reach out if you have any questions or need information. Email [email protected] and we will ensure that the right staff member connects you promptly.

Here is a list of sectors and workers that California has designated as “essential critical infrastructure workers”.

Hannah’s House falls into these categories:

p. 2 – “Workers who provide support to vulnerable populations to ensure their health and well-being including family care providers.”

“Workers who support food, shelter, and social services, and other necessities of life for economically disadvantaged or otherwise needy individuals . . .”

p. 11 – “Workers that provide . . . in-home supportive services, child welfare, adult protective services and social services, and other necessities of life for economically disadvantaged or otherwise needy individuals (including family members)”

“Professional services, such as legal or accounting services, when necessary to assist in compliance with legally mandated activities and critical sector services.”

MS MA, LMFT

March 20, 2020

In difficult and scary times, it is important that children don't lose the vital support of a relationship with one of their parents. Research tells us that the greatest risk to a child during a family breakup is the loss of a parent. We believe that the parent-child relationship is essential to the well being of children. And an important role of the Professional Provider of Supervised Visitation is to "enforce court orders for supervised visitation." We understand that some people may differ on this important topic. We believe it is important to make safe services available and will leave it to the parents to determine what they believe is best in safeguarding the well being of each child. Therefore, we have significantly modified our service delivery to ensure social distancing, aggressive cleaning, no contact exchanges, and symptom-screening for all staff and clients. We have 3 separate entrance doors at the back of our building so that Residential parents and their children do not have any contact with other families when they arrive for visitation and they can always wait outside until time for the visit. A reminder that we have offered Skype Virtual Visitation for any family needs that and have done so for over a decade.

SUPERVISED VISITATION

Parents may wait outside the building on the benches until time to start the visit. We have removed several chairs in the Waiting Rooms to ensure a 6' distance between people. All toys and books have been removed from both Waiting Rooms. We are putting together individual boxes of new items each child can use during visits. The box is to be left at HH. The Parent and Child will place the box in a spot where no one else will touch it between visits.

We are disinfecting rooms daily immediately after use. All rooms were deep cleaned daily starting Monday, March 2. We continue to disinfect all areas after use.

The Visiting Parent will be admitted to disinfect the Family Room to his or her satisfaction prior to the transfer of the child/ren for the visitation.All Family Rooms are large enough for Staff to maintain a 6-foot distance. We have an outside playground for our families and will allow only 1 family on the playground at a time. The playground, too, is disinfected after each use.

SAFE EXCHANGES

Hannah's House Safe ExchangesAll exchanges at Hannah's House will continue. They are conducted outside with Staff maintaining a 6' distance. The transfer is car to car if there is no DVRO DVTRO and the parents both agree; we will also conduct car to car if there is a DVRO/DVTRO and the parents agree to peaceful contact.

For Safe Exchange cases where no contact is possible, we have benches by each of the waiting room doors (front and back) and will transfer the child around the building with no contact between the parents.

In all situations, staff remains 6 feet away from parent and child.

Email [email protected] for updates and schedulig.

THERAPY AND CO-PARENTING CLASSES

Most of our therapy services and classes are available via TeleHealth - virtual online sessions. Please email [email protected] for information and scheduling.

MS MA, LMFT

March 14, 2020

For now, Hannah's House WILL CONTINUE all safe exchange and supervised visitation services during this national emergency.

We have multiple resources for health and safety in place for our families. Our Professional Monitoring Staff will ensure that each parent has immediate and steady access to the necessary supplies beginning at the outside doors so there is no need to touch the video access point or the door with bare hands.

This is a decision we have thought about carefully as we work to balance client health with potential loss of parent-child contact during this difficult time.

Disinfectant supplies, gloves and boxes of tissue are available at stations placed throughout the agency and in each of our private family rooms.

Any child or adult with any symptoms of cold or flu will not be allowed into the facility until they are symptom-free. The same standard applies to our Hannah's House staff, interns, and volunteers.

Sadly, we have decided to temporarily suspend our Free Support Groups for Moms, Dads, and Children as well as our Free Monthly Co-parenting Workshop. These services are provided in relatively small spaces without the ability for social distancing.

We have made this decision because our first priority is the health of our community.

If any of our regular attendees or any Hannah's House client needs support between March 16 and April 6, please email us, [email protected], or call 858.300.2730, and we can arrange a virtual meeting,

Do not hesitate to reach out to us with any questions, concerns, or need for counseling and support while we all pull together to minimize the risks of this pandemic to ourselves, our families, and our communities.

We know that meaningful connections with others who are challenged by family breakup and the potential loss of a parent-child relationship is vital. We will make resources available for virtual contact to the extent possible AND don't hesitate to talk with us and each other on the phone!!!

MS MA, LMFT