Emotional Support Resources

Human Trafficking Education for Families

WHAT IS HUMAN TRAFFICKING?

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. This crime occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud or coercion to control another person for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or soliciting labor or services against his/her will. Force, fraud, or coercion need not be present if the individual engaging in commercial sex is under 18 years of age. Learn more at https://humantraffickinghotline.org/

OK2Say: Confidentially Report Potential School Violence

OK2SAY is the student safety program which allows students to confidentially report tips on potential harm or criminal activities directed at school students, school employees, and schools. It uses a comprehensive communication system to facilitate tip sharing among students, parents, school personnel, community mental health service programs, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and law enforcement officials about harmful behaviors that threaten to disrupt the learning environment.

Coping With A Crisis: 24/7 Counseling Support

Common Ground is a nonprofit, trauma informed, recovery oriented agency dedicated to helping youths, adults and families in crisis. The agency’s 24-hour crisis and resource helpline, youth and family services, assessment and crisis intervention and other programs throughout Oakland and Genesee Counties are a lifeline for runaway and homeless youths, families in crisis, victims of crime, people with mental illness and others in critical situations.

CALL

Are you facing a crisis? Call Common Ground for free and confidential counseling, information, and referrals. Call 1.800.231.1127.

VISIT

You're also welcome to visit Common Ground's Oakland County facility to talk with counselors in person. Find a crisis center.

TEXT

If you're not ready to talk, you can use a mobile phone to text with Common Ground counselors instead. Available 24/7. Text "Hello" to 1.800.231.1127

CHAT

24 hours a day and 7 days a week, you can use Common Ground's online chat service.

Child Abuse Support

 Being a parent is one of the hardest and most rewarding jobs in the world, but it can be overwhelming at times.

Most parents want to do a good job of raising their children. But unlike other jobs where you get special training, most parents are left to do the best they can with what they know from their own experience. There’s no need to feel that you are all alone or that no one cares. The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline can help.

The ChildHelp Hotline is staffed by degreed, professional counselors who are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. All calls are anonymous and toll-free.

CALL 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) then push 1 to Talk to a Hotline Counselor OR push 2 to have information mailed to you.

The Hotline receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico. Communication in 170 languages is available through state-of-the-art technology that allows three-way conversations between the Hotline counselor, the caller, and a professional translator.

LGBTQ Youth Resources

 The It Gets Better Project is a nonprofit organization with a mission to uplift, empower, and connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth around the globe. Growing up isn’t easy, especially when you are trying to affirm and assert your sexual orientation and/or gender identity. It can be a challenging and isolating process – but, the good news is, no one has to do it alone.

Easter Seals Michigan Counseling Services Partnership

In 2017, Lake Orion Community Schools introduced a unique partnership with Easter Seals Michigan to offer quality individualized counseling services to Lake Orion Community Schools students. The program is a result of a district-wide investment in the education and support of the whole child to create a foundation for lifelong social-emotional well-being.

Through this partnership, a qualified, licensed Easter Seals Michigan therapist is available to provide counseling and referral services, working in cooperation with the school and parents. Easter Seals is also able to connect families with private insurance and Medicaid, depending on the level of care needed.

Community Partnerships

Engaging community members, businesses, and organizations as partners in children’s education can improve the learning community in many ways. For example, community partners may be able to

• Provide expanded learning opportunities.
• Build broad-based support for increased school funding.
• Provide quality after-school programs.

The findings presented by Henderson and Mapp provide a framework for strengthening parent/family involvement programs. PTA, working with leading experts on parent involvement and school-community partnerships, has updated its National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs to reflect recent research and improve parent and community involvement practices. The updated National Standards shift the focus from what schools should do to involve parents to what parents, schools, and communities can do together to support student success. To reflect this change, the standards have been renamed the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships.

Child Safety at Home

Constantly watching over your children's every move may not be possible, even at home. With that said, here are some useful rules worth laying down to make sure that they stay out of harm's way even when you are not immediately present.

Family Involvement for Student Success

We partner with families to encourage and support strong connections between home and school. In the 2002 research review A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement, Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp conclude that there is a positive and convincing relationship between family involvement and student success. To put it another way, when families are involved in their children’s learning both at home and at school, their children do better in school. The report also points to specific types of involvement as being especially beneficial to children’s academic success.

From "The Positive Relationship Between Family Involvement and Student Success." (pta.org)

Family involvement improves student success, regardless of race/ethnicity, class, or parents’ level of education. For involvement to happen, however, principals, teachers, and parents themselves must believe that all parents can contribute to their children’s success in school. Parents can promote their children’s academic success by:

• Teaching their children the importance of education.
• Finding out what their children are expected to know and to be able to do and reinforcing lessons at home.
• Sending their children to school ready to learn every day.
• Talking with their children about what they're doing at school.
• Tracking student progress on the PowerSchool portal and asking questions about classroom assignments.
• Attending teacher conferences and parent information nights.