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2009 Forum on Family Support

On June 18, Children’s Trust Foundation reinvigorated its legacy of trainings for Family Support Professionals during our 2009 Forum on Family Support, where we were joined by fifty Family Support Professionals to learn from one another, encourage best practices, and discuss three important themes: communication, advocacy, and empowerment.

Forum attendees pressed panelists and discussed the challenges facing Family Support Centers throughout Washington State, exploring ways to better communicate their outcomes as they make their case to funders. They practiced defining their outcomes through a survey, which produced this list of the top services Washington families seek:

  1. Information about parenting skills and child development
  2. Resources to build family social networks and connections
  3. Help supporting family self-sufficiency and self-reliance

Click here to read more about the purpose and results of this exercise.

The forum introduced fresh resources available to Family Support Centers in order to help their participants deal with the legal issues that they face and how to maximize advocacy for children and families during a panel discussion with June Krumpotick from Legal Voice’s Self Help Program and Deborah Duitch from Treehouse’s Educational Advocacy Training. Read more about the legal and educational advocacy resources legal and educational advocacy resources that these professionals provide Washington families.

The forum also explored programs offering empowerment to Family Support Centers, like Community Café and its success in developing parent leaders.

Thanks to our gracious host, the International Family Center, and to Family Support Professionals for making this event so productive on top of their tireless work for Washington families.

You may not be a Family Support Professional, but you can help strengthen families today, too. You have the power to meet Washington families' needs when you give to our Power to Make a Difference Campaign—where 100% of every dollar you give will go to Family Support grants. Give and make a difference today!