"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
FAMILY SUPPORT THROUGH THE YEARS
Read these candid interviews with family support professionals that answer essential questions about their work.
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 they serve and fosters positive parenting choices and healthy family dynamics.
Family support centers believe that all parents have the strength and ability to nurture and care for their children.
FAMILY SUPPORT FAQs
How do the centers prevent child abuse and neglect? Social isolation, lack of knowledge of child development, and lack of parenting skills are all factors that can lead to child abuse and neglect. Family support centers address these problems with research-based programs that educate parents with the tools they need to improve their parenting, communication, and life management skills.
Why does Children’s Trust Foundation focus
on family support centers? We fund family support centers because they are effective in preventing child abuse and neglect. In the 1990s, Children’s Trust Foundation partnered with the Council for Children & Families to host a series of community meetings across the state to determine the best child abuse prevention strategies. Participants strongly advocated for parenting education classes and support groups, home visiting programs, and life-skills education. Family support centers offer programs that address each of these recommended strategies.
Why do we need family support centers?
Research shows that by investing in positive outcomes for children and families, family support centers lead to:
- 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, knowledge of child development, and parenting skills among parents
- Greater educational attainment among parents
Who can use Family Support Centers?
Family Support Centers are open to all.
