Parent Leadership Training Institute aims to improve the lives of children

Melva Ann O’Keefe, Ciara Kyden and Ann Seward graduated from the inaugural Parent Leadership Training Institute on June 27 at Manchester Community College. The three-year program was underwritten by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. (Photo courtesy of Manchester Community College)

Based on her work with families who had open cases with the New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families, Ciara Kyden appreciates the work of DCYF but says families need more support.

“I feel that DCYF is doing a ton of amazing work behind the scenes in terms of lived experience integration … but we don’t have a space outside of that for our families to really voice what happened in their case and how we can better understand families moving forward,” said Kyden, a former foster parent and adoptive parent.

Through the Parent Leadership Training Institute, which debuted this year at Manchester Community College, Kyden and 12 other women learned how to examine child and family issues important to them and create a plan to make meaningful change.

The institute, which is underwritten by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and led by Manchester Community College (MCC), celebrated its first graduates on June 27. Funding for the three-year grant program was secured by the NH Charitable Foundation and Southern NH Services. It was modeled from a similar program established in Connecticut 30 years ago.

Participants were drawn to develop projects that addresses community issues they had experienced directly through their personal lives or professional work.

Kyden’s project, the Parent Advocacy Council, is designed for families that have been affected by DCYF.

“The hope is that I can create a place where families can come together, and we can promote advocacy and partnership and prevention,” the Allenstown resident said during an interview on graduation night.

The goal is to help untangle policies that sometimes get in the way of helping families.

“What are those policies and procedures that maybe we can alleviate or change? That way when we’re approaching families with concerns, we can really partner with them,” she said.

Sense of community

Ann Seward, whose son is profoundly affected by autism, wants to create a community group at Seven Hills NH at Crotched Mountain School in Greenfield to help students like her son and their families get the support they need. The therapeutic residential school supports students with autism.

As her son got older, “and became less cute,” his community shrank, Seward says. He was kicked out of public schools, placed at an out-of-district school and ultimately was asked to find a residential placement after he regressed during COVID.

While her son is a tall 17-year-old, his behavior does not match what people expect of someone his age.

“He’s not welcome in playgrounds because he’s so big and tall, even though he acts like a toddler, and he’s not really welcomed in the community because he doesn’t understand he still has impulsive behaviors like a toddler would,” says Seward, who works as a substitute paraprofessional at Mountainview Middle School in Goffstown.

“He deserves a sense of community that when the community sees you, they can adapt to you for the few moments that he’s with you,” Seward said. “Instead of feeling like you’re shunned and you have to be on the outside looking in, sometimes other people can accommodate you.”

Melva Ann O’Keefe named her project Bampy’s Books! in honor of her father, who was an avid reader and instilled his love of books in his children.

“My oldest daughter was the first grandchild. She couldn’t make the ‘G’ sound, so he became Bampy to everyone,” O’Keefe says.

Now O’Keefe wants to share Bampy’s love of books with students in grades K through 4 at Gossler Park Elementary School in Manchester, where 80% of the students come from economically disadvantaged households.

O’Keefe plans to work with local businesses to help pay for books that will be distributed to children for free at Gossler. Her day job is serving as the emergency solutions grant coordinator for Southern New Hampshire Services.

“What I hope is to see books that are diverse, because when I was growing up, all of the kids in the books looked like me,” says O’Keefe, who attended Gossler as a fifth grader when her family moved to the area. “But all the kids in the schools don’t look the same anymore, and I want them all to see themselves in a book to encourage them to read.”

Four of the 13 participants will be returning to help teach the next two classes. said Marla Soucy, community engagement coordinator at MCC.

“It’s really saying something that they want to come back and work as facilitators and continue to work on their leadership abilities and sharing their experiences that they learned in those 21 weeks with new incoming participants,” Soucy said.

The Parent Leadership Training Institute will soon be accepting applications for the fall class. For more information, contact Marla Soucy at msoucy@ccsnh.edu or (603) 206-8014.