Transcript An approach to child abuse and neglect prevention that was:

Office
of Child Development
& Early
Learning
Presentation
Title (Master
View)
Edward G.
Governor
| Dr.| Dr.
Gerald
L. Zahorchak,
Secretary
of Education
| Estelle |G.Estelle
Richman,
Secretary of
Public Welfare
Edward
G.Rendell,
Rendell,
Governor
Gerald
L. Zahorchak,
Secretary
of Education
G. Richman,
Secretary
of Public
Welfare
www.pde.state.pa.us
www.pde.state.pa.us
| www.dpw.state.pa.us
Social and Emotional
Competence of Children
Knowledge of Parenting
& Child Development
Social Connections
Concrete Support in
Times of Need
Parental Resilience
The Fab Five:
Proven
Protective Factors
to Prevent Child
Abuse and Neglect
Cele McCloskey,
Disabilities Manager
Early Head Start/
Head Start of York County
What you’ll learn…
• Five protective factors which make parents
more likely to have positive experiences and
outcomes despite the risk factors they might
face
• How these factors relate to prevention of child
abuse and neglect
• How you can help strengthen each of the
factors with the families you serve
Strengthening Families is a strength-based,
protective factors approach
which helps build on existing strengths to
keep families strong and children safe.
Program is built on two beliefs: All families have
strengths and All families need support
• Uses ECE programs to reach families and focuses
on protective factors that all families need
Social and emotional
competence of children
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Social connections
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience
5 Protective
Factors lead
to stronger
families – less
abuse and
neglect
**Note: These are not the
only protective factors that
keep families strong. They
were specially selected for
programs to target with
families.
Parallel Process in Relationships
Relationships between 2 people influence others around them.
- Parallel process occurs naturally in all relationships
- Can use it to influence interactions among people and children
Parents
Staff
Child
Supervisor
Slide and Activity © 2006: PCAN Curriculum - ZERO TO THREE.
Summarizing the Importance of
The Parallel Process:
“Relationships between child care providers
and parents can help set the tone for
relationships between parents and
children. Relationships between child care
providers and parents can also make a
difference in the relationships between
caregivers and children.”
Social and emotional
competence of children
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Social connections
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience
Stronger
families –
Less abuse
and neglect
Social emotional issues of young children are
becoming an increasing issue in early care and
education settings. This is crucial to help:
• prepare children for school
• deal with problems before they get too serious
Promoting children’s social-emotional competence
also changes how they are parented.
• Taking home new skills which they have learned
such as relating to others, expressing their
emotions, and solving conflicts affects how their
parents react to them. Parents react positively
when their child talks about his emotions and
know how to resolve conflicts with words.
For children who have challenging behaviors: how
we respond to that behavior may affect their
development and how their parents deal with them.
• Appropriate adult response to behaviors while in
the program helps the child to control his or her
behavior.
• Role modeling for parents is helpful also
(especially role modeling which includes
POSITIVE interactions)
Special attention is needed for children with serious
social-emotional difficulties, or who have
experienced trauma - must help their families get
the services they need!
Teaching Pyramid
Children with
persistent challenges
3-10%
Children at-risk
5-15%
Intensive
Individualized
Interventions
Functional Behavior Assessment
Positive Behavior Support Plan
Social Emotional
Teaching Strategies
Designing Supportive Environments
All children
Building Positive Relationships
Intentional Teaching of
Social Skills
and Emotional Regulation
High Quality Early
Care and Education
How ECE programs promote
social-emotional development
 Direct teaching of social and emotional
skills (PATHS, The Peaceful Classroom)
 Helping parents to see positives in their
children, despite challenging behaviors
 Working with parents, child, and
appropriate professionals to address
challenging behaviors, rather than kicking
children out
In the research that was done to develop this
initiative, parents reported that the biggest
way their early childhood program affected
their parenting was through the social
emotional skills their children brought home.
When children come home talking about their
feelings and with new skills, it makes their
parents more receptive to the early childhood
program and to their child’s experiences.
When a child exhibits challenging
behaviors, his parents may internalize
messages that their child is bad,
unlovable or uncontrollable. It is important
to provide adequate supports to help
parents develop coping behaviors and see
positives in their children.
 Parents need help identifying what their children are
achieving through the use of challenging behaviors.
(determine the function of the behavior – ABC charts)
 Teachers, parents, and children need to find new
ways for children to express needs and have them met
(develop plans to address behavior concerns)
Social and emotional
competence of children
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Social connections
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience
Stronger
families –
Less abuse
and neglect
Crying babies, challenging
children, and children with
special needs are at the highest
risk of abuse and neglect.
Parents need:
• Information - to help them understand
the reasons behind their child’s behavior
• Techniques - to manage behaviors and
guide development
• Perspective - to put their child’s
behavior in the context of overall
development (ex: intense infant crying;
“terrible two’s”)
Parents have teachable moments just like
children do – usually when their child has
presented them with a new challenge or
they are trying to tackle a new task
Parents need alternative ways
of responding to their children
than simply the ones they
learned from how they were
parented. This is especially true
for parents who:
- were abused or neglected
as children
- grew up in families that
over-relied on physical
punishment and spanking
Six Stages of Parenthood*
Stage One: Image Making
Begins at conception and continues through
pregnancy, ending at the time of delivery.
Major tasks for the parents in this stage are
accepting the pregnancy, forming images about
the baby, and imagining what kind of parents they
will be.
*Galinsky 1987. The Six Stages of Parenthood - Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Perseus Books.
Stage Two: Nurturing
Birth → 18 months or 2 years
• Parents must let go of pre-conceived
images of baby and adjust to reality
• Parents also need to recognize how the baby
makes them feel - caring for calm, quiet babies is
easier than caring for crying, excitable babies
• Parents’ reactions to their babies depend upon
their own temperaments, their ability to calm
themselves, and their expectations of the baby
and themselves
Stage Three: Authority
Begins gradually as infant learns to
communicate and becomes mobile.
• Overlaps the nurturing stage, beginning at about
18 months to 2 years of age and continuing until
about 4 - 5 years of age
• Parents must accept responsibility for family
rules and routines and help their toddler manage
the frustration he sometimes feels as he wants
more independence
Stage Four: Interpretive
Includes children 5 years → elementary school
years; ends with the beginning of the teen years
Parents must evaluate and revise their ideas of
child-rearing and parenting in response to their
child’s changing needs. They sometimes have
to explain life events to their
children and guide the
development of their children’s
values, attitudes, and beliefs.
Stage Five: Interdependent
Encompasses the teenage years
Parents’ major task is to cope with their
teenager’s constantly changing needs for
closeness and distance
Stage Six: Departure
May begin during the child’s
teenage years or twenties
Major tasks for parents in this
stage are to prepare for the
child’s departure and redefine their
relationship with the child, who is now an
adult.
How ECE programs enhance parents’ knowledge
of parenting and child development
• Providing “just in time” parent education –
when issues arise (teachable moments)
• Role modeling to support understanding of
developmental issues and learning new
strategies
• Arranging formal parent education events or
activities
• Developing partnerships with parent education
organizations
IMPORTANT!
To be effective, parent education must
be provided within a context of trust
and mutual respect. Parents will be
more receptive if they believe that you
know their child and you have the
child’s best interests in mind.
Social and emotional
competence of children
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Social Connections
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience
Stronger
families –
Less abuse
and neglect
Social isolation is strongly connected
to child maltreatment
More young families than ever before are living
far away from their extended families and need
to develop their own social support networks
with friends, co-workers, neighbors, and other
parents with children of similar ages.
For preventing child abuse and neglect, it’s
not just having social connections,
but the quality of the connections.
• Having someone to talk to and vent
frustration, especially about parenting
challenges
• Providing connections that help families
access resources – e.g. a friend that will
provide babysitting
• Providing opportunities to see other
parents parenting – this allows parents to
pick up some good techniques and perhaps
also recognize some strategies that don’t
work
• Encouraging social networks that include
positive norms about parenting – having
conversations with other parents about the
joys of raising children and sharing tips for
positive things to do with children
How ECE programs help parents develop
social connections
• Providing informal space for parents to “hang
out”
• Blending social and parent education activities
• Organizing structured activities that bring parents
together, including outreach to men
• Reaching out and connecting isolated parents to
activities at the center
Connecting Parents
• Be conscious of your efforts to connect
parents
• Provide a variety of ways both informal
and more formal
• Build relationships—get to know your
parents
• Refer parents for services if needed
Social and emotional
competence of children
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Social connections
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience
Stronger
families –
Less abuse
and neglect
How ECE programs help families
access concrete support
 Distributing community resource guides
 Inviting community partners to share
information with all families in the center
 Referring parents to community resources –
provide contact info and then follow-up
 Helping parents to overcome barriers to
getting the services they need
Social and emotional
competence of children
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Social connections
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience
Stronger
families –
Less abuse
and neglect
Parental Resilience
Building Blocks for Resiliency
Gather
resources
Recognize
challenges
Belief
system
Take
action
Make good
choices
Acknowledge
feelings
Coping
strategies
Make
changes for
the future
Problemsolve
Communication skills
Hope
When parents are resilient, what does it look like?
Outcomes with parents may appear similar to goals
you set for children in your care. Parents will:
– respond to stressful situations in productive
ways
– feel supported and be able to solve problems
– develop trusting relationships with others and
reach out for help
– achieve and demonstrate psychological
health
How ECE programs build
parental resilience
• Consistency of caring: Through daily contact,
show parents:
– They are valued
– Staff is concerned about them
– Help is available
• For some parents, getting to resiliency may
require “re-parenting” with extra support and
trusting relationships
Program strategies to build protective factors
 Facilitate friendships and mutual support
 Strengthen parenting
 Respond to family crises
 Link families to services and opportunities
 Value and support parents
 Facilitate children’s social and emotional
development
 Observe and respond to early warning signs
of child abuse or neglect
What your program can do:
SMALL but significant changes...
• Learn parents’ names and get to know them better
• Plan events to engage parents in the center
• Implement a social-emotional development
curriculum
• Make your center more welcoming to parents
through physical changes
• Get staff training on child abuse and neglect,
community resources, and working with families
• Use the self-assessment to identify areas
for improvement
• Engage parents in improving how your
program reaches out and builds
protective factors for families
• Build relationships with child welfare
agencies and child abuse prevention
advocates in your community
Self Assessment tool available for free at www.strengtheningfamilies.net
The foundation of all success in
strengthening families and building
protective factors = RELATIONSHIPS!
• Trusting relationships with
parents, developed over time
• Strong relationship with child
protective services agency
• Relationships with other
agencies and services
Tools and Resources
 Strengthening Families National Network
• www.strengtheningfamilies.net
 Children’s Trust Fund
• www.wctf.state.wi.us
 Strengthening Families Illinois
• www.strengtheningfamiliesillinois.org
 CSEFEL
• www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel/parent.html
 PA Strengthening Families
• www.pa-strengthening-families.org