ENFIELD — The Child, Youth and Family Division is the largest division in the Enfield Social Services Department covering programs and services for children and families anywhere from birth through 18 years old. They operate a nationally accredited Early Care and Education Center for infants to school age children.
For the parents of children from birth to 5 years old, the division also offers parent/child play groups as well as parent education programming for parents of young children. They also offer a Grandparents Raising Grandchildren group for both education and support.
Director Cindy Guerreri of Social Services for the town of Enfield said, “The Department of Social Services did a reorganization about two and a half years ago, so we organized largely by age and that’s where we combined early childhood and youth into one division. We have another division that’s Adult and Elderly which includes a transportation division, and we have a Community Initiatives division that includes the Enfield Together Mental Health & Wellness Coalition that focuses on substance misuse prevention and mental health promotion. We’re looking for ways to help children and youth with families and caregivers grow the developmental assets necessary for school, work and life success.”
Right now, the Child, Youth and Family Division are running a teens music production and songwriting workshop and has a theater program for grades 4-6 where they sing, dance and act through fun activities. A big focus of the division’s work is developing the development assets which comes from the Search Institute, an evidence-based foundation about how kids thrive and succeed.
“It is an organization that has done research on Developmental Assets,” Guerreri said. “Our programming is based on the assets we are looking to enhance.” She went on to say, “As with each of our divisions we focus on the unique needs of the various age cohorts along the life cycle. Our overall desire is that all Enfield residents are healthy, safe and stable, and connected to their community.”
For those interested in joining programs, activities or events, call the Social Services Department at 860-253-6395 or go to the Facebook page at facebook.com/EnfieldYouthServices.
