I
have been living 20 minutes from Lexington for practically my entire life, but
until I was assigned Sunflower Kids as my service learning organization, I
hadn’t even heard of it. As I began researching the
organization, it intrigued me more and more. I learned that the purpose of
Sunflower Kids is to provide “exchange services” and supervised visitation for
families with a history of unsafe behaviors. These behaviors could include
things such as domestic violence, child abuse, substance abuse, stalking, and
more.
The
concept of Sunflower Kids really fascinates me. I knew that visitation between
parent and child is sometimes limited by the court system, but I hadn’t given
much thought towards what that actually entails or how it happens. Sunflower
Kids is kind of a mediator between the child and parent, when visitation is
limited. They don’t provide evaluations or recommendations to the courts, which
allows them to be completely neutral. In my opinion, this furthers the safe
environment that Sunflower Kids aims to maintain. I think it is really
interesting!
This past Friday, we had our first meeting/orientation at Sunflower Kids. The office was at the bottom of a relatively new apartment building. I was immediately greeted by a wall of inspirational quotes and a very smiley staff member. Sunflower kids has a small staff, and they seemed to be extremely excited that we are volunteering.
The meeting was short, but informative. We discussed the history of the organization and a little bit about what we can do while we volunteer. The role that I chose involves helping out with the fundraisers. Sunflower Kids is planning two upcoming events to raise money: a silent auction and a trivia night. I will be responsible for making phone calls or visits to local businesses and helping organize the events. I really enjoy planning, so I am excited to help with this.
I am looking forward to seeing
what goes into each visitation or exchange, and how fundraising works with a nonprofit like this. The guiding principles of the organization are very respectable, and I can’t wait to see them in action.
This sounds like a very interesting service learning organization! I was wondering if you happen to know how the meetings are set up at Sunflower Kids, and who sets them up? I didn't know if they were set up by the court system, the parents, or someone else.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have observed, the frequency of the visits are set up by the courts and then from there, Sunflower Kids works with both parties to set up a time that works for them.
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