“The Nurturing Parenting Program (NPP) for parents of children with special needs and health concerns came into my life at the perfect time. My name is Socorro. My oldest son was an easy going child, and it was fun to watch him grow. Then, I became pregnant and got the news I was going to have triplets. I was full of joy, but I also had many concerns. After my three children were born, two girls and a boy, I had a totally new experience. When my youngest son was two years old, he was diagnosed with autism, and years later, both my daughters had mental health diagnoses. I started attending the Nurturing Parenting Program when my triplets were removed by Children and Family Services. I found myself trying to navigate the system and struggling to understand processes and find resources. The support and education I received from NPP gave me hope.
Thanks to the Nurturing Parenting Program, I learned to be part of a new community, accepted my situation and with the support of my group, started taking care of myself. I also found self-worth and identified my strengths. I advocated for my family despite language and cultural barriers and successfully went through the system and got my children back. NPP was such a supportive program; it gave me awareness and helped me identify patterns of negative parenting styles I inherited from my parents. This program is culturally appropriate, strength-based and educates parents about trauma, expectations, discipline and so many other valuable topics. The relationship with my children has changed, because I have changed. I now communicate more effectively and help them manage their behaviors; we accept each other and learn new things together. I am now a NPP facilitator. I believe this is a valuable program that brings hope to parents and offers them the opportunity to learn and change their quality of life, just like I did.” ~Socorro Hernandez