rachelh@myweeklysentinel.com
TOWANDA — What started out as a simple resource for child custody exchanges turned into something much more that local parents can utilize.
Supporting Area Families Every Day, or S.A.F.E., is a non-profit that is dedicated to strengthening families and building a healthier community for Bradford County and the surrounding area.
Founder and Executive Director Heather McNett of Canton saw a growing need for a safe place for parents to exchange children and a safe place for parents to visit their children in a supervised setting.
“Initially we started out as Safe Transitions in 2017,” said McNett. “So we started out in Canton offering custody exchanges. We were getting feedback from the community, such as needing supervised visitations.” McNett was at the time working with Finding New Hope and Theresa Allen, until she realized this organization was becoming bigger than she had originally planned.
Because of the non-profit expanding, McNett moved her office to Towanda to be able to better serve the entire county, and surrounding counties as well.
“We needed to be more centrally located, and in a bigger space,” said McNett, who noted they have clients from all over, some as far as New Jersey or Westfield in Tioga County. “Canton and Troy have always been very supportive of us and we have always been thankful for those communities.”
The focus of the program is safety and providing safety measures for children of families who have history of domestic violence or drug abuse history, for example.
“Sometimes it’s couch surfing or homelessness,” said McNett, “If they don’t fit under Children and Youth Services, they may be referred to us.”
After her own personal experiences, McNett was determined to not only provide a safe haven for children, but to help parents with useful resources along the way.
Along with the visitation services, S.A.F.E. offers resources with local connections on job postings, housing, parenting tips and more.
McNett’s worry was hearing about custody exchanges and children subjected to arguing and fighting, which turned sometimes violent and deadly.
“As we continue to do the research, we knew we needed to do something for our families so that kids can go from one parent to another and in an environment that is safe and happy, just to support them,” said McNett. Thus, the idea of no-contact custody exchanges became a reality and a staple of what S.A.F.E. stands for - peaceful transitions.
“A lot of our parents who do custody exchanges, they don’t have a lot of communication at all,” said Jessica Parks, S.A.F.E.’s supervisor. “Even when they can communicate, they still come to us because they don’t have to be face-to-face. You don’t have to worry about anyone calling anyone names.”
“Our environment that we created is kid-friendly. When there’s a need for food, we are able to provide that to the families in the short term and direct them to resources in the community for a more permanent solution,” said McNett.
The non-profit also celebrates holidays and plans activities for the children and parents to do together.
S.A.F.E. has two more members, Mercedes Meuse and Lois Shaffer who assist Parks and McNett with services.
The S.A.F.E. staff members are very passionate about serving the unheard voices in the community - the children.
Currently, the S.A.F.E. schedule is 2-7 p.m. on Sundays, 3-8 p.m. on Tuesdays, 3-8 p.m. on Fridays and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
“Looking forward, we would like to be able to make more connections with the community,” said McNett. They would like to expand their services to better help families and provide more resources to them.
For more information on S.A.F.E., go to safebradco.com, call 570-250-7401, email safebradco@gmail.com, or make an appointment stop at their location at 908 S. Main Street in Towanda.