Columnist Sandy Thompson: Family to Family debate continues

Sandy Thompson

Saturday, Nov. 18, 2000 | 2:56 a.m.

Sandy Thompson is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or e-mail at thompson@lasvegassun.com

IS THERE room for compromise and collaboration in Family to Family Connection's future?

Family to Family is the statewide program that provides services to parents of newborns through 1-year-olds. Supporters say it's a lifeline for new parents who have no family support system here.

As noted here two weeks ago, a fundamental review committee formed by Gov. Kenny Guinn to look at state programs, funding and efficiency is recommending that Family to Family be folded into Family Resource Centers located in at-risk neighborhoods. Family to Family has 10 sites in Southern Nevada and 12 throughout the rest of the state. There are 19 Family Resource Centers in Southern Nevada, four of which are in Laughlin, Pahrump, Mesquite and Overton.

The review committee believes the shift would be a more efficient and effective use of funds and a better way to deliver services.

Family to Family supporters say tampering with its successful format would mean its demise.

The governor's office disagrees.

"We are not eliminating the program," says Guinn spokesman Jack Finn. "We are seeking to improve the focus of the program by having it where it's needed the most."

Few dispute the value of Family to Family. The point of contention is that it serves all families -- including those who can well afford to pay for such services.

Deni Conrad, executive director of HELP of Southern Nevada, which oversees the Family Resource Centers here, says there also was concern from Northern Nevada programs that their clients would not access services if they were only located in low-income areas.

"I'm against segregating low-income and middle-income people," Conrad says.

She believes cooperation and collaboration on programs that don't conflict with each other mean better services.

Family to Family areas are adjacent to those covered by Family Resource Centers. Where there is no resource center, Conrad says, the Family to Family site would become one.

She says the resource centers offer a holistic approach to families, so a program for new parents would be a natural fit. Among the centers' services are assistance with finding housing or a job, education and parenting classes, and help with food stamps.

Dianne Farkas, manager of the northwest Las Vegas Family to Family program site, fears the loss of significant investments from various hospitals, collaborations with community groups and volunteers if the program is shifted to the resource centers. Some hospitals, she says, provide financial support and/or paid staff, including registered nurses. St. Rose Dominican Hospital supports the Henderson program.

As for the suggestion that services be provided only in "at-risk" areas, Farkas believes the term should be redefined.

"All families are at risk," she says. "At risk for many families with new babies means not having relatives nearby."

As previously noted, there were concerns that Family to Family would become a political football because it was a pet project of Republican Guinn's Democratic predecessor.

"The assertion that the governor is politically motivated ... that's the last thing on his mind," Finn says. "He's doing what's in the best interest of the state.

"Families and children are a priority. It's one of the reasons Guinn ran for governor -- to take care of people who need help at that level. This proposal (folding Family to Family into resource centers) is a more far-reaching approach. The needs of welfare families and people depending on state services are utmost in the governor's mind."

Farkas says no one from the state committee or governor's office asked for input from Family to Family. She hopes representatives will visit the sites and see for themselves how the program is working.

The goal, she says, is to offer direct services to all families regardless of region, income or at-risk status.