Sarah’s Story

June 5, 2015

motherdaughterSarah is a single mother of two children with a very limited amount of income. Early on, she noticed that her 3 year old daughter was showing concerning signs of delayed speech and was only able to verbalize a minimal amount of words. As a mother of a three year old and a newborn baby, this created a very stressful situation for Sarah’s home life.

After a visit with her daughter’s pediatrician, Sarah was instructed to take her daughter to see a neurologist in Nashville. Without a vehicle, this proved to be another hurdle for Sarah and her daughter. Fortunately, a CHAP (Creating Hope by Assisting Parents) worker from Catholic Charities of TN was able to reach out to Sarah in her time of need and help transport mom and daughter to the doctor in Nashville.

The CHAP worker also scheduled several sessions with Sarah and her daughter to observe the family’s interactions. In just a short time, the CHAP worker made a referral to Early Connections as she had some concerns that the daughter was exhibiting signs of autism. After an assessment, the developmental pediatrician at Early Connections did indeed diagnose the young girl as autistic. With relief in her eye, Sarah acknowledged, “No one has taken the time to listen to my concerns until the CHAP program started working with us. Everyone [else] said it was just a behavior issue and I needed to discipline her more.”

With your contributions to United Way of the Greater Clarksville Region, you help fund programs like CHAP and create solutions to some of the greatest needs surrounding our local individuals and families. Thank you for being a part of the positive changes taking place in our local community. LIVE UNITED!

To create change like this, call our office at 931-647-4291.