"Learning the language gives them the confidence to be more effective in the community, to go out and look for jobs, to be better parents all around, to be more successful...They'll have that forever."
Diane Rieger, Instructor working with Spanish-speaking Family Support Center parents
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FAMILY SUPPORT THROUGH THE YEARS
Read these candid interviews with family support professionals that answer essential questions about their work.
MEET YOU AT THE CAFE
Community Cafes strengthen families by connecting caregivers of all types with a support network in their area that increases resilience to stress, connects them to resources, and builds lasting relationships. Click here to find a Community Cafe near you.
ABOUT FAMILY SUPPORT CENTERS
Family support centers are warm and welcoming hubs for parents and children to learn what they need to become strong and address the challenges that face every family. They offer families a place in their own community where they can seek help without judgment, parenting education classes, child development activities, parent support groups, mentoring, parent-and-child activities, life skills training, family counseling, advocacy, and information and referral services. Family support centers build on families' strengths and capacities, offering help without stigma.
Each family support center is tailored to the needs and qualities of the families in the community it serves and fosters positive parenting choices and healthy family dynamics.
FIND A CENTER
Find a family support center near you that can provide you and your family with support
FAMILY SUPPORT FAQs
How do the centers prevent child abuse and neglect? Because national research shows that the Protective Factors (listed below) reduce incidents of child abuse, the family support centers that Children's Trust supports advance these factors in their work, keeping children and families safe before they reach a crisis point.
The Protective Factors:
1. Family Functioning and Resiliency: Families need adaptive skills and strategies to persevere in times of crisis. Families then gain the ability to openly share positive and negative experiences and work together to accept, solve, and manage problems.
2. Responsive Social Network: Support from family, friends, and neighbors provides stability that eliminates family isolation.
3. Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development: Understanding and utilizing effective child management techniques and having expectations for children that are age-appropriate is vital to ensuring that discipline does not become abusive.
4. Concrete Support in Times of Need: Families need access to tangible services and goods, especially when undergoing a crisis.
5. Nurturing and Bonding: The emotional tie along with a pattern of positive interaction between parent and child is a key factor to preventing child abuse.
Why does Children’s Trust focus on family support centers? We support family support centers because they are effective in preventing child abuse and neglect. They offer parenting education classes, support groups, home visiting programs, and life-skills education.
Why do we need family support centers?
By investing in positive outcomes for children and families, family support centers' work results in:
- Fewer incidents of child abuse and neglect
- Fewer teenage pregnancies
- Less juvenile delinquency
- Improved behavior and performance at school
- More families moving from welfare to work
- Increased self-confidence and strong parenting skills among caregivers
- Greater educational attainment among parents
Who can attend family support centers?
Family support venters are open to all.
