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Family Support Services sets sail on celebratory, emotional evening
With temperatures creeping into the low 60s, the weather was beautiful, if not exactly “Caribbean,” in Greencastle on Saturday.
It was positively tropical, though, in the ballroom at Tiger Pointe Country Club as the staff, board and backers of Family Support Services of West Central Indiana celebrated the organization’s accomplishments in the last year while also raising funds for the victims and families FSSWCI supports each day.
Attendees donned their best island wear and were handed leis at the door as they embarked on a Caribbean Cruise in support of FSSWCI’s mission of preventing child abuse and neglect and domestic violence through education, guidance, intervention and supportive services in Putnam, Owen, Clay, Montgomery and Boone counties.
While the night had a celebratory tone to it, Executive Director Scott Monnett did not shy away from the stark realities of the problems Family Support Services and we as a society face on a daily basis.
“We all know someone ... someone who’s been impacted by domestic violence,” Monnett said, “... someone who’s been impacted by child abuse.”
He noted that in their lifetimes, one in three women and one in four men will be victims of such abuse.
Monnett shared that during 2022, FSSWCI had 4,138 requests for domestic violence or sexual assault services while serving 710 victims of violence.
Among various other statistics, Monnett said he might be most proud of the 2,765 referrals Family Support Services made to other community resources, as problems like domestic violence and child abuse do not exist in a vacuum, and these clients can use help from other sources.
“We cannot do this alone,” Monnett said. “We can’t be everything to everybody. It truly takes a village.”
Highlighting this fact, Monnett and FSSWCI board President Sue McCune had the honor of bestowing the Bessie Rector Award on a former staff member who now works for a related agency at the state level.
Bestowed for the first time since 2016, the award is presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the community in the prevention of child abuse.
This year’s designee is Sherri Nield, who spent several years at the helm the Healthy Families program for FSSWCI.
Monnett called Nield his “first significant hire” upon taking the reins of FSSWCI in 2018.
Nield, who has moved on to a position with Straight Path Consulting, was surprised at the honor.
“I’m very grateful and humbled,” Nield said. “I’m so proud of the Healthy Families program.”
She noted that in her new role, she is able to help guide similar programs throughout Indiana and beyond. Nield noted, though, that the local program, which serves Boone, Montgomery, Owen and Putnam counties, is “a shining star in Indiana.”
“A lot of other programs in Indiana look to this program,” Nield said.
One of the night’s three testimonials spoke to the power of the program, which is a voluntary service providing parents with support, encouragement and access to resources as they care for their children, came via a video of Lacy, who has been enrolled in Healthy Families since 2013.
“I didn’t know how to start being a parent,” Lacy said. “Being 16 and pregnant wasn’t part of the plan.”
However, she emphasized who she has thrived, nothing that she has found the support she’s needed. Now a mom of an 11-year-old and 4-year-old, Lacy noted that she’s about to have another baby while still relying on the support system of Healthy Families.
“I’m going to stay in the group because they’re very supportive of anything you want to do that creates a good environment for your children,” Lacy said.
Another testimonial came from Mimi, who was able to get out of an abusive relationship and eventually lived in Supportive Housing with her daughter.
With a focus on the Housing First Model, the mission of Supportive Housing focuses on getting survivors of domestic violence into stable housing as quickly as possible, and then provide the necessary support as they rebuild their lives.
While the main goal is to provide housing for participants, Mimi noted that through weekly meetings with her advocate, she got so much more.
“It was exactly what I needed,” she said. “I was able to feel understood. I was able to feel seen. She helped me understand these were just circumstances. I was not the trauma I had lived through.”
Mimi now has an apartment of her own, in addition to a car and “a career I’m passionate about.”
“I’m never going to be able to say ‘thank you’ enough, so I’ve decided the best way to show my gratitude is to succeed.”
Another success story, and certainly the night’s most poignant moments, came in the in-person testimony of Kaylee, another domestic violence survivor who has turned her own harrowing journey into a program to honor her young daughter.
Kaylee detailed how her abuser manipulated and eventually trapped her in their relationship, making her feel like she was the problem while cutting her off from family and friends. Borrowing from another abuse survivor, she spoke of the four stages of getting into and out of an abusive relationship — seduction, delusion, awakening and escape.
As she moved toward the story of her own escape, Kaylee noted what a dangerous time this can be, as of the estimated 4,000 women who die from domestic violence each year, approximately 75 percent do so while attempting to leave.
Once she did escape, Kaylee wound up back in Putnam County and connected with Family Support Services. She later gave birth to daughter Journee, perhaps the one good thing to come from her former relationship.
“I felt so much love and support as they continued to look in on me and make sure I was safe,” Kaylee said.
Now employed at Putnam County Hospital through the WIC program, Kaylee has started the Journee’s Bags program, which provides a bag of self-care items for victims and survivors of domestic violence.
“I want to honor my daughter because she is the one who truly saved my life,” Kaylee said.
“You’re going to save lives,” Monnett said as Kaylee made her way back to her seat.
More information on the Journee’s Bags program will be printed in an upcoming edition of the Banner Graphic.
Other highlights of the evening included Monnett talking about the agency’s move to the Bob Bottoms Community Center at 605 Crown St., as well as highlighting other FSSWCI programs such as Operating Brain Building and the Putnam County 360 Coalition.
Both Monnett and McCune also noted the need for community involvement.
“We are looking for board members,” McCune said. “We need board members who are active.”
Monnett noted that other methods of support include becoming a sustainer fund donor, become a volunteer or, perhaps most important, always support those who are suffering from abuse.
To learn more about Family Support Services of West Central Indiana, visit www.fsswci.net.