KALAHEO — Keiki O Ka ‘Aina, a Native Hawaiian nonprofit organization that has been serving Hawai‘i for 24 years with over 13 programs, opened their He Lei Piko Home Visiting Program on Kaua‘i last year.
Tiffaney Miller, a spokesperson from Keiki O Ka ‘Aina Family Learning Centers, explained how beneficial the program is to families in need.
“We offer two, evidenced-based models to expecting mothers and also ‘ohana who have keiki under the age of 6 and not yet in kindergarten,” Miller said.
“One program we facilitate is called Parents As Teachers (PAT), for prenatal through age 5, and the other is Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), for ages 3 through 5.
“Both models focus on the caregiver as a keiki’s first and best teacher. We partner with families to lay a foundation during a child’s most formative years,” she said.
”We support parents and caregivers in developing positive parenting practices, provide education on child development, build school readiness and literacy, and provide resources and materials to help support their child’s learning,” Miller added.
Keiki O Ka ‘Aina’s mission is to “educating children, strengthening families, enriching communities and perpetuating culture.”
In 2014, Keiki O Ka ‘Aina was awarded a contract with the state Department of Health to implement a home-visiting program with sites on O’ahu, Maui and Hawai‘i Island as a part of the Hawai‘i Home-Visiting Program. Keiki O Ka ‘Aina was awarded two contracts to provide early identification and home visiting at four sites, including a new site on Kaua‘i.
“The Hawai‘i Home-Visiting Network was recently re-branded as the ‘Your ‘Ohana Network,’” Miller said. “While our name is new, our services have been around for many years.”
The new location for Keiki O Ka ‘Aina is in Rainbow Plaza in Kalaheo, and Miller said she looks forward to having a grand opening in the future.
While this program is free to Kaua‘i’s ‘ohana, Miller said it is provided to the community through state and federal funds.
“Funds are provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Hawai‘i State Department of Health Family Health Services Division, Maternal and Child Health Branch. This contract is administrated by the DOH Home Visiting Services Unit.”
Leaders saw a need for parental assistance on Kaua‘i.
“Raising children is hard,” Miller said. “When a child enters a home, there isn’t a handbook or manual on how to raise keiki who are physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively healthy and ready to learn. While there are many resources out there, nothing beats having your own home visitor who can walk with you on your parenting journey.
“A toddler’s brain is making more connections per minute than a college student, and we are here to provide guidance, ideas, and support so ‘ohana can feel confident that their keiki are thriving. We are excited to be there for the little moments that mean a lot, from the good days to the bad days and all those in between,” said Miller.
The program focuses not only on the keiki or on the parents but also on the interaction between them.
“We believe that if parents and caregivers have the tools, they can impact the trajectory of their child’s life in a way that supports healthy development,” Miller said.
“Our trained parent educators meet with ‘ohana once per week to go over parenting skills and look at child development, while offering support, resources, and activities to help keiki develop optimally.
“We also provide free books to enrolled ‘ohana so they can start their own home library to increase their keiki’s literacy skills and spark a love of learning,” Miller added.
Miller said the program is currently enrolling eligible families that reside in the Koloa to Kalaheo areas with keiki prenatal up to age 5.
“DOH identified this area as an area of need to provide specialized home-visiting programs,” Miller said. “We hope that our He Lei Piko Home Visiting program will have a positive impact here on Kaua‘i that it already has on the other islands.”
For more information, email heleipiko@koka.org or call 244-4144.
•••
Stephanie Shinno, features, education, business, and community reporter can be reached at 245-0424 or sshinno@thegardenisland.com.
This program sounds great!!! In 2009 the Healthy Start program lost funding and their home visiting program stopped…. this is the most important time for parents and children- so excited to hear about this!!