The Harmony House/CASA Program of La Porte County, Inc. received a $1,500 grant from Wal-Mart to expand their services in Michigan City. The Harmony House Program offers supervised visitation to families, as well as a monitored exchange program at both the La Porte and Michigan City locations. The new funds allow the program to expand their Michigan City location to include a kitchen, business office and two additional rooms for supervised visitation.
“Supervised visits, in a comfortable, neutral setting, encourage parents and children to relax while strengthening their family relationship. These sessions are closely monitored by visitation staff that observe, record activities and stand close to intervene if necessary for the emotional or physical safety of the child” states Executive Director, Karen Biernacki.
“We are excited to also offer a monitored exchange program to parents that may not be required to have supervised visitation, but need to exchange custody of children without interacting with the other parent. Monitoring of each exchange is provided by a visit supervisor to insure children are safely transferred from parent to parent, avoiding conflict for the child and family” Biernacki continues.
To utilize the supervised visitation program, families may be referred by the court system, attorneys, social workers, child welfare case workers, CASAs/GALs, clergy or mental health professionals. All scheduling of visitations and exchanges are managed by the staff of Harmony House with input from each party involved.
CONTACT: To learn more about services offered through the Harmony House, visit http://www.lpcasa.com or for more information contact the Harmony House Program Director, Cheryl Highsmith, at 219.324.3385 or email CHighsmith@lpcasa.com.