Northern Colorado Gazette

Your tax dollars hard at work

by Vanessa Dominguez

C.A.R.E, a state funded agency who teaches parenting classes to a variety of people, is aimed at helping parents gain knowledge and skills. Many are court ordered to attend such classes due to parenting issues or social service issues. Sometimes there is a referral from an outside agency.

The program usually lasts twelve weeks and participants are given a lengthy workbook to cover in class.

Jason Dale, a participant of The Nurturing Program for Parents class, said he did not feel he learned “much of anything” from the class, as most of the time participants sat around and socialized. He stated that at one point a class participant showed up high on drugs. The instructor, Sara Higgins, noticed but allowed the person to stay in class. The female participant was asked  not to repeat the behavior. Dale described Sara, the instructor, as unable to control the room. When asked how much of the workbook was covered, he stated, “very little.” He stated he learned more from watching a video on YouTube about parenting than he did in the entire twelve weeks of attending the class. This class supposedly teaches parenting skills to parents with children four and under, an important time for young parents.

A  public-funded parenting class that allows participants  to attend class while high on drugs is problematic because those attending  are usually ordered into the class  due to lack of parenting skills. The Weld County Court system relies heavily on agencies such as C.A.R.E to educate troubled parents. After completing a class at C.A.R.E, many are allowed more freedom with their children. If an instructor is ineffectively teaching a class,  parents and children are the ones who pay when the parents do not receive quality instruction.  Taxpayers’ money is wasted as well.

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Tags: class