Transcript United Way PowerPoint Presentation Template

Strengthening Families
for a Smart Start
May 7, 2009
Strengthening Families
The Challenge
Each year nearly 1,000,000 children
are confirmed victims of neglect and
abuse.
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Strengthening Families
The Challenge
Children ages birth to1 year have the highest rates of child
maltreatment; 84% of victims are less than one week old
Children ages 1-3 have the 2nd highest rate of victimization
Parenting young children is especially challenging and a critical
time period where information, education, resources and support
can make a difference
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Strengthening Families
The Challenge
Consequences for Child
Poor physical health
Poor mental health
Social and behavioral issues
Learning difficulties
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Strengthening Families
The Challenge
Consequences for Society
• In 2007, the cost to society for intervention and care of
victims was $104 billion for hospitalizations, child
welfare, special education, mental health, and criminal
justice.
• This does not include intervention and treatment for
family members, perpetrators, or the ongoing costs
associated with children as they grow into adulthood.
(Wang and Holton, 2007)
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Agenda
1. Background
2. The 5 Protective Factors
3. Public awareness and advocacy
4. Program and funding practices
5. Parent engagement
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Strengthening Families
What is it?
A new approach to CAN
prevention that is grounded in
research
A framework for family support
that has specificity and the
flexibility to be applied across
disciplines
A structure for integrating family
strengthening into existing
service settings
Smart Start Mary 7, 2009
Slide provided by the Center for the Study of Social Policy
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Strengthening Families
Background
Strengthening Families Model
Early care and education centers are core to the
Strengthening Families model and the beginning point
for nationwide implementation.
• Access to a large number of young children and their
families
• Can impact families before abuse or neglect ever
occurs
• Already addressing Protective Factors to some
degree
• Safe and trusting atmosphere for parents
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Strengthening Families
Looking Forward
However, early education programs represent just the
beginning. In order to end child abuse and neglect, it is
also necessary to:
• Integrate protective factors into all services for
families (adult education, family supports, child
welfare, etc.).
• Ensure that public policy and funding integrates the
protective factors and supports families.
• Grow public awareness so everyone can support
families.
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Strengthening Families
National Network
29 States and DC
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia,
Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, Washington, DC, West
Virginia, Wisconsin
7 National Partner Organizations
BUILD, FRIENDS National Resource Center for CB-CAP, National Alliance of
Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds, NAEYC, NCCIC, Zero to Three, United
Way
4 National Affiliate Organizations
Midwest Learning Center for Family Support, National Registry Alliance, Parents as
Teachers, Parent Services Project
Smart Start Mary 7, 2009
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Strengthening Families
5 Protective Factors
Parental Resilience
Social Connections
Knowledge of Parenting and Child
Development
Concrete Support in Times of Need
Social and Emotional Development
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Strengthening Families
The 5 Protective Factors
friendships and
mutual
•Strengthen
•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
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Strengthening Families
Putting the 5PF into Practice
Is SF aligned to your organization’s mission?
If so, around which of the 5 protective factors
are you already doing work? Discuss the work.
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Strengthening Families
Putting the 5PF into Practice
How can you tell if your agency’s mission/activities are aligned
with the protective factors?
The UWGHP has utilized an electronic data collection
project of all of its local service providers in order to assess
the their activities against the 5 protective factors in order
to see what the community’s service climate is. How did we
do this?
Because the project is well-grounded in research there are
tremendous amounts of national resources available. Our
team worked with a variety of those to create a survey that
assesses the agency’s climate against the 5 factors.
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Strengthening Families
Putting the 5PF into Practice
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Strengthening Families
Putting the 5PF into Practice
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Strengthening Families
Putting the 5PF into Practice
What did we find and how are we going to work with it?
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Strengthening Families
Putting the 5PF into Practice
What we see is that our focus must be drawn in the order
provided by the data:
1. Parental resilience
2. Concrete support for parents
3. Social Connections
4. Nurturing and Attachment
5. Knowledge of Parenting
You can do the same within your own agency. We have the
same survey results from staff at each of these agencies.
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Strengthening Families
Parent Education and Engagement Tools
Nurturing Parenting
Triple P (Positive Parenting Program)
Parent Services Project
Parent Leadership Institutes
Stronger Together curriculum (for EC field)
Parent Cafes
Community Cafes
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Strengthening Families
Parent Education and Engagement Tool
Community Cafes
• Parent hosted
• Guided conversations based on needs and
interests of community
• Builds community wisdom and parent voice
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Strengthening Families
Parent Education and Engagement Tool
Community Café topics
• 5 protective factors AKA
the 5 inalienable rights of
every child
• Leadership development
• Community partnership
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Community Café partners
• Early learning centers
• Schools
• Faith-based organizations
• Family and social service
programs
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Strengthening Families
Public Awareness and Advocacy
United Way of Greater High Point Children’s Initiatives SFU
Building the Foundation of Change
• Community Description
• Situation
• Assessment
• Strategies
• Keys to Success
• Benefits
Strengthening
Families
Initiative
Anchorage, AK
Spokane, WA
High
San Antonio, TX
Brownsville, TX
United Way of Greater
High Point’s
Children’s Initiatives
was one of only 6
United Ways in the
United States
Point, NC awarded a grant from
United Way of
America for
Strengthening
Atlanta, GA Families United. The
grant was for $99,000.
Strengthening Families
Public Awareness and Advocacy
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Strengthening Families
Public Awareness and Advocacy
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Strengthening Families
Public Awareness and Advocacy
Local Advocacy
City Government
Court System
County Government
State Advocacy
QRIS-Idaho, Pennsylvania,Tennessee
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Division of Child Development
Department of Public Instruction
Smart Start
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Strengthening Families
Evaluation
What is Participatory Action Research?
Participatory action research is a recognized form of experimental
research that focuses on the effects of the researcher's direct actions
of practice within a participatory community with the goal of improving
the performance quality of the community or an area of concern (Dick,
2002; Reason & Bradbury, 2001; Hult & Lennung, 1980; McNiff,
2002). Action research involves utilizing a systematic cyclical method
of planning, taking action, observing, evaluating (including selfevaluation) and critical reflecting prior to planning the next cycle
(O'Brien, 2001; McNiff, 2002). The actions have a set goal of
addressing an identified problem in the workplace, for example,
reducing the illiteracy of students through use of new strategies
(Quigley, 2000) or improving communication and efficiency in a
hospital emergency room (Eisenberg, Baglia, Pyrnes, 2006).
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Strengthening Families
Evaluation
Participatory Action Research Approach for SF
“Strengthening Families United will utilize a participatory action research
that emphasizes: shared decision-making and mutual trust; learning and
ongoing improvement; high levels of usefulness of evaluation data; and
building capacity to conduct evaluations at the local level. The goal of the
evaluation process is to define a set of models and tools that United Ways
and communities around the country can use to integrate protective
factors into their work.”
This was required in the grant application…what does that mean “on the
ground”?
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Strengthening Families
Evaluation
I think the most challenging, but probably the most
powerful aspect of taking a participatory approach is the
need to let the project actually define its own processes.
(Just ask Barbara!)
As a project director, this can be very difficult since we as a
service sector are so used to taking a “research based”
approach and running with it. Ironically enough, the
Strengthening Families model is exactly such an approach.
But, the UWA had the foresight to understand that
communities vary and therefore a one-size-fits approach
will not work.
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Strengthening Families
Evaluation
Local communities, and even agencies, need to be allowed
to do what they already do well and yet be given the
guidance from the SF model to add in bits of improvement
where they will be most effective.
Because this approach is emergent among most service
providers in the USA it is often necessary to partner with
and evaluator who is trained in the approach.
The benefit of the investment is that the improvement
based on the process tends to be sustainable and long
lasting instead of the typical “latest” reform fad that we are
all used to.
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Strengthening Families
Putting it into Practice
Identify one area in which your organization
could be doing more intentional work to instill
the protective factors even in today’s
environment of constrained resources.
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Strengthening Families
Referenced Resources
www.ctfalliance.org
(Our WorkEffective Partnerships with
Samantha Wigand, United Way of America
[email protected]
ParentsCommunity Cafes
www.friendsnrc.org
Barbara Frye, United Way of Greater High
Point
[email protected]
www.strengtheningfamilies.net
Aimee Sickels, Custom Evaluation Services
[email protected]
www.parentservices.org
www.nurturingparenting.com
www.preventchildabuse.org/index.shtml
Parent Cafeswww.strengtheningfamiliesillinois.org
www.triplep.net
www.cdc.gov/injury
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Thank you