JWB recognizes Home Visitors’ impact during National Home Visiting Week

April is Home Visiting Month, highlighting how home visitors strengthen families — supporting parent and child health and helping prevent child abuse. April 20–24 is National Home Visiting Week, and the Juvenile Welfare Board is and celebrating the impact home visitors make every day.

Home Visiting Month coincides with National Child Abuse Prevention Month. That’s intentional — underscoring home visiting as a proactive, non-judgmental way to prevent crises. Home visiting professionals work alongside families to build confidence and self-sufficiency. Utilizing a variety of research-based models, they strengthen parenting skills, share early childhood development and school-readiness best practices, help children build resilience and life skills, and connect families to support.

JWB is highlighting two JWB-funded programs serving Pinellas families:

• Truancy Intervention Prevention Services (TIPS)

The TIPS program offered by Bethel Community Foundation is a prevention-based model that serves youth ages 8-17 who face school-related challenges, including habitual truancy and other unmanageable behaviors. Through personalized case management and support services, including home visits, TIPS helps families navigate these challenges with dignity and respect.

• Family Center on Deafness (FCD)

FCD is a nonprofit providing services specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) residents of Pinellas County. They offer specialized services and staff trained in American Sign Language and experienced working with the D/HH population. FCD’s programs and services are geared toward empowering D/HH individuals and their parents/guardians/households; they work with the entire family. Programming includes parent and infant activities (birth-5); after-school, full-day, and summer camp programming for elementary, middle, and high school students; and enrichment and leadership programming. Additional after-school support for school-age youth is provided through individual tutoring, group tutoring, literacy activities, and sign language instruction. These programs are designed to positively impact youth participants’ self-esteem and strengthen their learning capabilities.

Animal Services announces summer hours

Pinellas County Animal Services is changing its hours this summer to extend adoption times on the weekends.

Starting May 4, PCAS will be open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. This change mainly impacts the pet food bank and adoption center, which will now open later throughout the week and close later on Saturdays.

Customers needing assistance before 11 a.m. can contact customer service phone lines between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Hours for the Animal Control and Medical departments will remain the same.

Anyone interested in adopting can visit the adoption center online at https://pinellas.gov/adoption-center-dog-cat-adoptions/.