Imagine being forcibly removed from your home, having to leave everything behind, and start over in a brand new country. You don’t speak the language, you have no family, and now, you’re pregnant.
This is how Naya and her husband Khaled fled their war-torn country and safely arrived in San Diego in 2019 as refugees.
Now a family of five, the family has struggled without a support system, without economic prospects, and with the ever rising-cost of living within the County. Seeking help to be the best mother she can be, Naya enrolled into Home Start’s First 5 First Steps program. Our Family Support Specialists partner with families and provide parents with voluntary home-based services that are individualized based on family strengths, needs, and interests and stay by their side for three years – the most critical years of development. Our program ensures that families have knowledge and understanding of growth and development as well as the tools needed for a secure parent-child relationship.
Naya has particularly enjoyed learning more about baby development stages to ensure that her children – ages 4 years, 2 years, and 2 months – are meeting all developmental milestones. In between attending school and making some time for her homework and studies, she also makes time to practice crucial parenting skills she is learning from her Family Support Specialist, including many activities that will help her children develop skills needed for their ages.
This family is also thankful to be participating in Home Start’s Adopt a Family Program this year.
While Khaled works full time, he is also working on getting his GED and to improve his English to get a better-paying job. These challenges, combined with rising rents and costs of living, means there is nothing left over for the Holidays. With your help, their three children will have not only have presents to open, but a bright future on the horizon!