The Children's Shelter

Shemaiah Bush

Shemaiah Bush is a parent educator for one of the Family Strengthening Programs offered at The Children’s Shelter. Family Unit-versity is a 10-week program in-person or online for any caregiver with a child up to 3 years of age. The program talks about early intervention, the importance of advocacy for your child, the importance of relationships for child development, and more. Family Unit-versity also has one-day sessions called Play shops or Boot Camps, where they teach about important developmental strategies and then parents get to practice them with their babies. 

Before Shemaiah came to work with Family Strengthening, she had been working with children and families for over a decade. After having her own children, she realized just how much was missing from the training sphere for people becoming parents. She said it was with Family Strengthening at The Children’s Shelter that she fully understood the power and depth of the child/caregiver bond. She shared that 90% of a child’s brain is developed in the first 5 years of their life and the connections that are made will affect children for the rest of their lives. Children are capable of amazing things when they are nurtured properly. Shemaiah educates caregivers on both the physical and the heart needs of children. She said you must help parents understand that they are not just raising a baby, or a child, they are raising a person and all that comes with it.