Helping Substance-exposed Youngsters – Penquis Regional Linking Project
Dr. Jennifer Middleton and Dr. Lenard Kaye are providing research and evaluation expertise to the Penquis Regional Linking Project – a partnership of the Bangor-based Families And Children Together (F.A.C.T.), the University of Maine School of Social Work, and a coalition of community organizations and agencies.In Penobscot and Piscataquis counties, children ages 5 and under whose families are struggling with substance abuse will have improved well-being and safety, and a better chance of staying in or returning to their own homes rather than remaining in foster care under a five-year, $3.9 million project led by the Bangor-based Families And Children Together (F.A.C.T.), the University of Maine School of Social Work, and a coalition of community organizations and agencies.
The Penquis Regional Linking Project: Building Quality Services for Rural and Frontier Communities will receive $797,405 annually for five years from the Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau’s Promoting Safe and Stable Families program. The effort will involve at least 25 area service agencies, led by F.A.C.T. and Beverly Daniels, the executive director of F.A.C.T. Jennifer Middleton, a UMaine assistant professor of social work, is the lead researcher on the project and co-director of evaluation.
“I am especially excited about this project because it is an exciting step toward establishing important community-university partnerships and addressing an issue of paramount importance to our region of the state,” says Middleton, who joined the UMaine School of Social Work faculty in 2011. More: Penquis Regional Linking Project and in the Bangor Daily News.