TALLADEGA COUNTY — When families find their backs against the wall, either financially or life in general, more and more are turning to FIRST Family Service Center for help.

FIRST is a nonprofit, community-based agency that supports families and encourages healthy efforts in child rearing. The other part of its mission is to enhance skills that promote self-sufficiency for families.

The organization accomplishes this mission through various programs, interventions and linkages to community resources. Director Laura Dalton said FIRST acts as an advocate for families and individuals to put them in contact with the right places for their needs, be it for assistance in finances, medication or family needs.

“We put together a framework of agencies that offer help,” Dalton said.

One of its specializations is information and referrals. Rather than providing financial assistance, FIRST screens clients and puts them in contact with people who can help them.

Social worker Betsy Curlee works with many clients who need help with necessities such as rent, utilities and food. She makes sure applicants will be approved before putting them in contact with assistance services such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army and Community Action Agency.

Curlee said the good thing about having a liaison to all these connections in one location is that many people don’t know the different resources to turn to, and with FIRST they only need to know one.

Its medication assistance referrals offer help in finding free or reduced prescription drugs for people 18 to 59 years of age who don’t have health coverage. Dalton said this program saves customers an average of $10,000 a month.

Besides financial contacts, FIRST also helps people help themselves through lifestyle examinations, budgeting, resume-building and interview skills. They have even worked with illiterate people and helped them fill out job applications.

“They have to be willing to be accepting to those changes in their lives, too,” Curlee said.

Other programs include those dealing with family enrichment, counseling, parent education, life skills training and aging and disability resources. FIRST also participates in the Imagination Library, which provides a free book monthly to children up to 5 years old.

“For me, I believe that we have the greatest flexibility to be able to serve consumers as a whole. There are so many state agencies for specific needs, but we’re not pigeonholed. We can serve the whole person,” Dalton said.

While some of FIRST’s programs are standardized, others are gown from specific needs that administrators observe. For example, its Pediculosis Program offers free pesticide-free head lice treatments to families, including home visits and walk-throughs of the treatment.

This resulted from problems area school systems were having with head lice. There was a shortage of referral options so too many students were being sent home and missed school. Common treatments in the county also involved the toxin Lindane, which resulted in complaints.

“It was a need that was in the community,” Dalton said.

Most of the people who take advantage of these programs come to FIRST through referrals. For example, many of the referrals for parent education come from hospitals or the Department of Human Resources.

Parent education is a large part of FIRST’s service programs. Some of this education is in the form of one-on-one sessions right in a person’s homes. Others involve group classes.

For example, Building Blocks is a hospital visitation program that serves more than 350 new mothers and provides family information, child development resources, bi-monthly educational mail and enrollment in the Imagination Library. Building Blocks remains a part of a child’s life until he or she turns 3.

In June, FIRST enacted its latest program, CHAT (Choices, Habits And Teachings), a support and education group for pregnant teenagers. It consists of weekly meetings at Citizens Baptist Medical Center in Talladega and combines practical instruction with fun and fellowship.

They cover relevant topics such as labor, delivery, breastfeeding, child abuse, birth control and healthy relationships. They have toured parts of the hospital and had guest speakers, including police officers and nurses, and representatives from Plan First, WIC and the Talladega County Extension Service.

The class plays games and encourages interaction that many of the girls do not get at home due to their age and situations. The girls also begin scrapbooks for their children’s future photos.

“We wanted to teach a parenting class that’s not just educational but fun, and one that allows bonding,” parent educator Amy Hurst said.

Attendance is rewarded with “Baby Bucks” that can be redeemed for baby supplies at FIRST’s home office.

Dalton said some of the mothers are so young that typical parenting programs aren’t effective. “Lots of teens don’t go to hospital birthing classes, so we try to give them something,” she said.

Hurst said other classes may be intimidating or scary because of a lack of support and encouragement, which is what CHAT tries to rectify.

“They’re all going through the same things,” Hurst said. “We have to prepare these girls for taking care of a new baby. They just don’t know. Some of them are still babies themselves.”

The class has had participants of various ages, including as young as 12. Participants have varied in ages up to 21.

“We don’t turn anybody away,” Hurst said.

To offer them a safe place to talk freely, CHAT is only open to the pregnant girls and not visitors.

Care coordinator Theresa Kelley said while CHAT is voluntary, girls are referred to it through the Gift of Life Foundation. In Alabama, all pregnant women with Medicaid must go through a maternity care program such as this to get a doctor’s appointment.

Kelley said the class has made a large impact in the girls’ lives and is an example of how the information and hospital environment has resulted in saving the lives of babies.

Another new development there was this summer’s acquisition of a damage simulator to demonstrate to young mothers the dangers of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Dalton predicts there will be a large push for education on this in Alabama.

FIRST has also received two grants through the Alabama Department of Public Health for anti-tobacco programs in schools. Through the Life Skills and Not On Tobacco programs, representatives go into the schools to work with students on avoiding tobacco products.

FIRST opened in 1997. The pathway to this began years earlier when the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program was pushed within states to encourage them to develop more family preservation and support services.

Alabama got behind PSSF and allowed individual communities to dictate how to use the program’s funds for that purpose.

“The idea was to have a center that reflects the needs of that community, and not what the government decided the needs were,” Dalton said.

A statewide assessment showed that Talladega County was among the most in need for family centers.

Dalton said because the PSSF money was intended to be used throughout the county, it was split to help create both FIRST and Sylacauga Alliance for Family Enhancement.

FIRST continues to be funded primarily through grants.

Dalton said the holiday season is always a particularly busy time at the agency. She said they took applications for about 1,100 children in need of Christmas help last year.

She said it looks like that number will be higher this year because of the increased number of parents who have lost their jobs.

“We’re seeing more people we haven’t seen before,” she said.

Information about FIRST’s programs can be found at www.firstfamilyservicecenter.com.