MILFORD, Conn. — It's been a full makeover for the DCF offices in Milford and now parents and kids being helped by the Department of Children and Families have a welcoming environment to bond.
With bright splashes of color on the walls, comfortable furniture on the floors, the DCF’s visitation rooms in Milford were redone with help from the non-profit called Fostering Family Hope.
“We come in to the DCF offices and we take their visitation rooms from basically waiting rooms and we bring them to life, we bring in muralists that are local and then we come in and furnish it,” said Megan Pearson, the co-executive director at Fostering Family Hope.
With the help from Bob’s Discount Furniture and Rise Up for the Arts, the Milford DCF visitation rooms makeover is now complete.
“I think it really helps families visit with one another, parents, and children to visit together in a space that is more natural and physically of course so they focus on continuing their bonding relationship and being together,” Cathy Waylen, the director of the DCF office in Milford said.
Fostering Family Hope has orchestrated full makeovers in five other DCF offices to date, with more to come according to Pearson, “hopefully we’re going to Waterbury and Torrington next.”
DCF Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes was on hand in Milford as the makeover was revealed to the public.
“Visitation rooms like this provide a space (for parents and children) to calm and reset… during the time that they are in these spaces, it’s calm, it’s a connection,” said Dorantes, who is in her fifth year as DCF Commissioner. “The best part of a day like today isn’t today, it’s when we see the families using these spaces.”
Jimmy Altman is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at jaltman@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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