Parents and Children Together is one of Hawai'i's leading nonprofit family service agencies and is a leader in the design and delivery of a broad range of innovative social and educational services.

PACT is an active partner with numerous community efforts, coalitions, initiatives, schools and other providers, and is a prominent advocate for the needs of Hawai'i's most-challenged citizens.

For 37 years PACT has provided community-based services, starting at Kuhio Park Terrace as one of the nation's original 36 Parent Child Centers, and growing into a multifaceted organization with 13 programs and almost 500 employees on O'ahu, Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i and Kaua'i.

PACT receives funding from a variety of county, state and federal sources, as well as individuals, corporations, foundations and community organizations, including Aloha United Way. PACT is accredited by the Council on Accreditation. PACT programs:

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

The Early Head Start and Head Start programs are part of a federal initiative for low-income parents and their children that provides early childhood education, health special-needs services and other comprehensive services.

Parents take an active part in the program. Early Head Start provides both home-based and center-based services to prenatal parents and parents with infants and toddlers through 3 years of age. Services are provided on O'ahu. Head Start serves children ages 3 through 5 in childcare centers in the Kalihi area.

CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT PREVENTION AND TREATMENT

Hana Like Home Visitor Program, a member of Hawai'i's Healthy Start Network, aims to prevent child abuse and neglect by strengthening families that are at risk. Home Visitor teams in West Honolulu, Windward O'ahu and the Diamond Head area work closely with expectant parents and parents of infants and toddlers to promote optimal child development by providing parenting education, emotional support and links to resources. Hana Like also implemented Hui Makuakane, a fathering program, and houses the Hawaii Coalition for Dads, both of which support fathers and foster their positive role in the family.

Respite Care provides a much-needed break from childcare responsibilities for parents who are under stress and cannot afford childcare. Trained childcare providers and volunteers care for children under 6 years of age in Central Honolulu, Kalihi, Salt Lake and Windward O'ahu, and assist parents with literacy activities and parenting skills.

CPS Visitation Centers in Waipahu and Wai'anae provide supervised visits between parents and children who are actively involved with Child Protective Services. The goal of the program is to increase the likelihood of family reunification through supportive parenting strategies and supervised visitation.

Lanai Integrated Services is a comprehensive program for child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention in a continuum through foster care and permanency placement support. Services include outreach, parenting skills training, counseling, support, referral, supervised visitation, support for foster care placement and adoptive parents. Families that are at risk of involvement, or are currently involved, with the child welfare system are eligible for services.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT

Family Peace Centers promote peace in the home by teaching nonviolent skills to ensure victim and child safety as well as offender accountability The program emphasizes partnership, equality and respect among all family members. Intervention groups for offenders are provided on O'ahu, Maui and Lana'i. On O'ahu there are support groups for victims/survivors and parenting skill-building groups, as well as counseling for children who have witnessed domestic violence. O'ahu also has a special project with the Department of Education called "The Keiki Safe Project" that provides school-based counseling to children from domestic violence homes.

Pu'uhonua is a one-stop drop-in center for victims of domestic violence, providing crisis intervention and counseling, legal services, advocacy, education, and childcare. The program is a collaborative effort with the Honolulu Police Department. Services are provided at Pu'uhonua's Honolulu office, and within defined geographic areas throughout O'ahu.

Ohia — Domestic Violence Shelter offers a safe and confidential place for women and their children who can no longer stay in their homes because of danger from domestic violence. Crisis response is available 24/7. Trained staff assist women with safety and future planning, and make referrals for housing, legal and medical needs.

MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

Intensive Support Services Program assists families whose children have serious emotional, social and behavioral challenges. School-based services include individual support for children with ADHD, depression and/or anxiety, pervasive developmental disorders such as autism and other difficulties. Services are available on O'ahu and Maui. Home-based services increase parental participation and include Multisystemic Therapy, an intervention program that is more intensive than traditional home-based or school-based services for children with willful misconduct. MST helps the family supervise and support their child's adjustment. MST services are available on O'ahu, Maui, Moloka'i and Kaua'i.

COMMUNITY BUILDING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Family Centers seek to strengthen communities by providing an array of services to meet the needs within communities of Kuhio Park Terrace and Kane'ohe. Each Family Center provides information and referral, a toy/book lending library, volunteer programs, counseling, classes and family activities. KPT Family Center works to prevent homelessness, promote literacy and English-language skills, and to build computer skills through the Kuhio Park Terrace Community Technology Center. Located within the KPT Family Center is The Neighborhood Place of Central Kalihi that works with families to prevent child abuse and neglect and involvement with the child welfare system. KPT Family Center leads a statewide collaboration for the Hawaii State Family Centers Association to provide Parental Information Resource Centers in seven sites and four islands. PIRC provides training and technical assistance for parents, schools and communities to work for optimal development and education of children, increasing parents' capacity in their parenting roles, providing an in-home curriculum for parents of 3- to 5-year-olds and facilitating home-school partnerships.

The Economic Development Center is designed to strengthen an individual's ability to secure and keep employment or to start and maintain a small business. Participants with low- to moderate-income who lack workplace and business skills can access services that include a personal vocational assessment, basic economic literacy, budget planning, resume development, job placement and follow-up and small-business training and start-up. Participants can start creating assets through an Individual Development Account program, which matches savings they establish for business equity, home ownership or education.

Community Teen Program is a comprehensive youth service center for those ages 7 to 18 who live in and around Honolulu's largest public housing complex, Kuhio Park Terrace and Kuhio Homes. This after-school program promotes the development of healthy youth, families and community with many activities and experiences for youth and family members including educational, recreational, community building and support services. Parents can participate in parenting education and family-strengthening activities. Case management services are available for youth and families coping with poor school performance, truancy and other difficulties. Activities like sports and study hall give youth supervised alternatives to drugs and gangs, and special events involve families as well. A new site with similar services has been opened in the past year at Puuwai Momi Housing.