3/10/2017

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Connecting the Dots to Strengthen Families in Wisconsin

Jim McKay, TEAM for West Virginia Children Cailin O’Connor, Center for the Study of Social Policy

Fulfilling the Promise, March 7, 2017

Our Agenda for Today• Morning:

– The four big ideas behind the Strengthening Families Approach

– Strengthening Families – Wisconsin

– The five protective factors

• Afternoon:– Applying Strengthening Families: Digging Deeper, by field

– Making the link

– Strengthening Families at the community level

– Café discussion and reflections

What makes your family strong?

Big Idea #1: A Protective Factors Approach

Risk Factors

Protective and Promotive

Factors

• Protective Factors: conditions or attributes of individuals, families, communities, or the larger society that mitigate or eliminate risk

• Promotive Factors: conditions or attributes of individuals, families, communities, or the larger society that actively enhance well-being

What we know: Families gain what they need to be successful when

key protective factors are robust in their lives and communities

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Big Idea #2: An Approach, Not a Model

• Research-based and evidence-informed• Applied in any setting that serves young children and their

families• Implemented through small but significant changes• Not parallel to, but integrated into existing practice• Cross-sector implementation core to the approach

Big Idea #3: A Changed Relationship with Parents

• Supporting parents’ ability to parent effectively• Involving parents as partners in achieving good outcomes

for children• Engaging parents effectively through programs• Engaging parents directly in mutually supportive

relationships that build protective factors• Partnering with parents to help design systems and

policies that work for children and families

Big Idea #4: Alignment with Developmental Science

• Paying attention to what the research tells us:– Critical periods of development – early childhood and

adolescence

– Importance of nurturing relationships in early childhood

– Effects of trauma on development, behavior and outcomes

• Providing tools and guidance to align practice with what we know about child development

A Protective/Promotive Factors Frame Across

Development

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Strengthening Families in Wisconsin Panel Discussion

• Connie Dunlap, Supporting Families Together Association

• Leslie McAllister, Department of Children and Families (Home Visiting Coordinator)

• Rebecca Murray, Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board

• Cailin O’Connor, Center for the Study of Social Policy

• Jane Penner-Hoppe, Department of Children and Families (Division of Safety and Permanence)

Five Protective Factors PARENTAL RESILIENCE

KNOWLEDGE of PARENTING and CHILD

DEVELOPMENT

SOCIAL CONNECTIONS

CONCRETE SUPPORT in TIMES of NEED

SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE of

CHILDREN

Parental resilience

What it looks likeResilience to general life stress

• Hope, optimism, self confidence• Problem solving skills

• Self care and willingness to ask for help

• Ability to manage negative emotions

Managing stress and functioning well when faced with challenges, adversity and trauma

Resilience to parenting stress

• Not allowing stress to interfere with nurturing

• Positive attitude about parenting and child

Everyday actions• Demonstrate in multiple ways that parents are

valued

• Honor each family’s race, language, culture, history and approach to parenting

• Encourage parents to manage stress effectively• Support parents as decision-makers and help build

decision-making and leadership skills• Help parents understand how to buffer their child

during stressful times

Parental resilience

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Questions parents can use:• What are your dreams for yourself and your family?• What helps you cope with everyday life?• What kinds of frustrations do you deal with during

the day?• How are you able to meet your children’s needs

when you are dealing with stress?• What are your goals for your family or children in the

next week or month

Parental resilience Building blocks of resilience

Actively supporting resilience: A provider’s role

Build on parent strengths

Support skill building

Reinforce action

What it looks like• Nurturing parenting behavior• Appropriate developmental expectations• Ability to create a developmentally supportive environment

for child• Positive discipline techniques; ability to effectively manage

child behavior• Recognizing and responding to your child’s specific needs

Understanding child development and parenting strategies that support physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development

Knowledge of parenting & child development Knowledge of parenting & child development

Everyday actions• Model developmentally appropriate interactions

with children

• Provide information and resources on parenting and child development

• Encourage parents to observe, ask questions, explore parenting issues and try out new strategies

• Address parenting issues from a strength-based perspective

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Knowledge of parenting & child development

Questions parents can use:• Talk about what your child does best and what you like about your

child.

• Tell me what you like about being a parent of an infant, preschooler, etc.

• What are some of the things that you find hard about being a parent?• What works best for your child when he/she is sad, angry or frustrated?• How have you seen other parents handle the same kinds of behaviors?• Tell me about the things that worry you about your child.• How do you encourage your child to explore his/her surroundings, try

new things and do things on his/her own?

Providing “just in time” parenting education

Express Empathy

Ask Good Questions

Provide Informatio

n and Perspective

Develop Strategies

Coach, Model and Mentor

Lift up Successes

Social connections

What it looks like• Multiple friendships and supportive relationships

with others

• Feeling respected and appreciated• Accepting help from others, and giving help to

others• Skills for establishing and maintaining connections

Positive relationships that provide emotional, informational, instrumental and spiritual support

Social connections

Everyday actions• Help families value, build, sustain and use

social connections

• Create an inclusive environment

• Facilitate mutual support

• Promote engagement in the community and participation in community activities

Social connectionsQuestions parents can use:

• Who can you call for advice or just to talk?

• How often do you see them?

• Do you have family members or friends nearby who can help you out once in a while?

• Do you belong to a church, temple, mosque, women’s group or men’s group?

• Do you have a child in a local pre-school, school or Head Start program

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Building an Eco-map

YouFriend

Friend

Sister

Spouse

Child

Co‐worker

Parent at your child’s school

Co‐worker

Concrete support in times of need

What it looks like• Seeking and receiving support when needed• Knowing what services are available and how to

access them• Adequate financial security; basic needs being met• Persistence

• Advocating effectively for self and child to receive necessary help

Access to concrete support and services that address a family’s needs and help minimize stress caused by challenges

Concrete support in times of need

Everyday actions• Respond immediately when families are in crisis• Provide information and connections to services in

the community• Help families to develop skills and tools they need

to identify their needs and connect to supports

Concrete support in times of need

Questions parents can use:• Identify from the parents’ perspective their most immediate need, such

as staying in their house, keeping a job or paying the heating bill.

• Look at steps the parents have taken to deal with the problem and assess how it is or is not working.

• Talk about current connections such as community or other local resources, faith-based communities, pre-school or school relationships and pediatricians to name a few.

• Explore the parents’ ability to find ways to access services such as transportation, encouragement, phone calls and other personal help

FOODJOB TRAINING

EDUCATION

HEALTH CARE

CLOTHING

SHELTERDOMESTIC VIOLENCE SERVICES

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

SERVICESMENTAL HEALTH

CARESPECIALIZED

SERVICES FOR CHILDREN

A bridge to services

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The Luck of the Draw: Setting up the game

• Take three index cards each• Label each of your cards, front and back:

• Shuffle and make a pile of each category for your table

BLANK SIDE LINED SIDETime of need A challenging situation for a family

Service A type of formal service available in your community

Support An informal support a family might have

The Luck of the Draw: How to play• You will take three turns as a group at your table

• First turn, select one card from each pile – Discuss: Will the service and/or the informal support help the family deal

with this challenge?

• Second turn, select one card from each pile – Discuss: Are the challenges mounting? What help is available from the

services and supports you’ve drawn so far?

• Third turn, select another “time of need” card and turn over all remaining services and supports cards– Discuss: How could you help this family navigate the available services

and supports to get the help they need?

Social & emotional competence of children

What it looks likeFor the parent:

• Warm and consistent responses that foster a strong and secure attachment with the child

• Encouraging and reinforcing social skills; setting limits

Family and child interactions that help children develop the ability to communicate clearly, recognize and regulate their emotions and establish and maintain relationships

For the child:• Age appropriate self-regulation

• Ability to form and maintain relationships with others

• Positive interactions with others• Effective communication

Social & emotional competence of children

Everyday actions• Help parents foster their child’s social emotional

development

• Model nurturing care to children

• Include children’s social and emotional development activities in programming

• Help children develop a positive cultural identity and interact in a diverse society

• Respond proactively when social or emotional development needs extra support

Social & emotional competence of children

Questions parents can use:• When you spend time with your child what do you like to do

together?

• What does your child do when he/she is sad, angry or tired?

• What are your child’s greatest gifts and talents?

• How do you encourage these talents?

• What do you do when your child does something great?

• What routines do you keep in caring for your young child?

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Children’s Social Emotional Skills to Build

EmpathizeDevelop Strategies

Control Response to Feelings

Recognize and 

Communicate Emotions

How to remember the Protective Factors

Digging Deeper: Applying Strengthening Families in Your Work

•Home Visiting (3 groups - Wilderness 25, Wilderness 4, and Wilderness 1)

•Home Visiting Supervisors (stay in main ballroom)

•Early Care and Education (Tundra EF)

•Early Head Start (Glacier AB)

•Family Support / Parent Education / Community Response (Glacier CD)

•Child Welfare (Tundra CD)

•Birth to Three / Infant Mental Health (Tundra AB)

•Applying Protective Factors in our Own Lives (Sandstone 89)

Digging Deeper Handouts and Tools

Handouts and tools for today’s sessions are available on the Conference website and via the Conference App.

https://eventmobi.com/ftp2017/

Making the Link

• How does Strengthening Families connect to other frameworks, other initiatives, other ongoing work?– Individual fields: “Making the Link” factsheets and crosswalks

– Relevance and integration within Core Competencies across various fields, parent engagement portion of Young Star, etc.

– Protective factors as a theme that runs across many child- and family-focused initiatives in the state

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Many resources available at www.strengtheningfamilies.net How do we know if we’re

making a difference?• Family level

–Protective Factors Survey

–Parents’ Assessment of Protective Factors

• Staff level–Staff survey

• Program level–Program self-assessments

–Standards of Quality self-assessment

About the Self-Assessments • Key implementation tool for programs adopting a

Strengthening Families Approach

• Helps programs identify “small but significant changes” that enhance their ability to build protective factors

• Created based on a national study of exemplary practice

• Designed to be used flexibly and to lead you to a concrete action plan

• Helps programs identify strengths & areas to focus

• Not an evaluation tool but a tool for continuous improvement

Four versions for different types of programs

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Strengthening Families Evaluation Portal

• Registration

• Self-Assessments

• Action Planning

• Parent & Staff Surveys

• Reports

http://www.strengtheningfamiliesevaluation.com

Taking a Community Approach to Strengthening Families

Engaging the public in prevention and strengthening families

• Affirm• Empower• Educate

• Affirm• Empower• Educate

Individual Actions

• Sense of connectedness

• Relationships

• Sense of connectedness

• Relationships

Community Engagement

• Engage in issues

• Mobilize

• Engage in issues

• Mobilize

Policy Advocacy

Talking with Parents about

Protective Factors

A case example: Magnolia Place

What would it take to have the 35,000 children living in the neighborhoods within the 5-square mile/500 blocks of the Magnolia Catchment Area break all records of success in their education and their health, and the quality of nurturing care and the economic stability they receive from their families and community?”

• Use SF protective factors as a philosophy to align practice among a network of 75 providers

• Baseline survey of 800 individuals on PFs• Café conversations with community members about what PFs mean to them• Dashboard—to examine monthly success in engaging families around PFs• Using EDI to measure impact on school readiness

Service Programs

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Shared Outcomes

and Measures

Magnolia Community Dashboard15 August 2011

% of 3rd Grade Children Who are Proficient in Reading

% Parents of Children 0-5 with Protective Factors % Parents of Children 0-5 Achieving Family Goals

% Parents Reporting Reading to Their Child Daily Parent Experiences with Care (in the Community Overall and % Parents Reporting Ties to NeighborsOverall and in Actively Improving Provider Settings)

% Parents Reporting Positive Relationship with Child % Parents Reporting Use of Bank Account % Parents Reporting Family-Centered/Empathetic Care

% Parents Discussing Resources for Families % Parents Asked About Developmental Concerns % Parents Asked About Family Stressors

% Parents Discussing Resources for Social Support % of Children Reached % Parents Asked About Depression

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

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Has IEPArea No. Comm Phys Lang Soc Emo 1+ 2+ (%)Northwest 137 12 10 17 17 7 30 18 7Southwest 15 27 0 0 13 13 40 13 --

Proportion of Kindergarten Children:

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No. Total number of children assessedComm Communication and general knowledgePhys Physical health and wellbeing

Lang Language and cognitive skills 1+ Vulnerable on one or more domainsSoc Social competence 2+ Vulnerable on two or more domainsEmo Emotional maturity Has IEP Has special education plan

In actively improving doctor offices

In actively improving child care programs

In community overall

In actively improving family support programs

Goal

EDSI . EARLY

DEVELOPMENTAL

SCREENING

AND INTERVENTION

INITIATIVE A case example: Baptist Convention of New Jersey

In October of 2014, the General Baptist Convention of New Jersey voted to become Strengthening Families churches. The pastor of each of these churches will sign a covenant to promote the protective factors of families in their congregations. Reverend Darrell Armstrong, an early adopter of Strengthening Families, developed the covenant as a tool to engage clergy of any faith tradition in helping families to build protective factors as part of their ministry.

• Over 300 churches in NJ will sign the covenant• Protective factors have been aligned to key passages from scripture• Training available for clergy and lay faith leaders on how to implement a

protective factors approach in their work with parishioners

Faith Communities

A case example: Leelanau, Michigan

When the Leelanau Children’s Center, one of the early Strengthening Families exemplary programs decided they wanted to bring Strengthening Families to their community they started making some unusual partnerships. For example they knew traditional parenting education classes often face attrition and difficulty attracting the very families that need the support the most. So they teamed up with the local laundromat and pizza parlor to host a family night with conversation about common parenting issues. The pizza and laundry are free and the events are packed.

• Building protective factors in places where families already go• Partnership with service providers and community institutions

Community

Institutions

Businesses A case example: United Way’s“Strengthening Families @ Work”

United Way of Greater Atlanta developed “Strengthening Families @ Work” as a pilot project with support from United Way Worldwide. In this model, Human Resources staff are trained on the Strengthening Families Protective Factors Framework and provided tools to help them take a protective factors approach to their employees, including:

–Surveying employees about issues they are facing that challenge their work-life balance

–Providing “lunch and learn” seminars for employees on specific topics related to those challenges, e.g., parenting specific age groups, finding resources in the community, caring for aging parents

–Developing family-friendly policies in response to employees’ stated challenges

Community

Institutions

Employers

Broad-based policy advocacy campaign to end child poverty in West Virginia. Over 180 organizational partners including parents, social justice organizations, businesses, labor organizations, faith-based organizations, etc. Organized in communities across the state at a grassroots level.

Achieved 14 policy victories in 2 years including Medicaid expansion providing 160,000 with health insurance, Minimum Wage increase, access to childcare, pregnant workers fairness, Feed to Achieve, restored funding for children and families programs, criminal justice reform.

Policy Advocacy

A case example: Our Children, Our Future in WV

Elderly poverty in the U.S. decreased dramatically.

Between 1960 and 1995, the poverty rate of those aged 65 and above fell from 35% to 10% and remains steady despite economic recessions.

•Social Security

•Medicare

•Homestead exemptions

Policy Advocacy

A case example: Poverty Rates for Seniors

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Reflections / Next Steps

What are Cafés?

• Based on World Café Model• Method of guided conversations

about topics that matter• Promotes the Strengthening

Families Protective Factor Framework

• Builds collective wisdom• Fosters parent leadership and

parent-practitioner partnership• Promotes growth and action

Instructions

•Gather in groups of 4

•3 rounds of questions, 8‐10 minutes each

•Write, doodle, draw thoughts, ideas and questions.

•After each round, a host stays, others move to new tables, carrying new ideas and questions to the next conversation. 

•The role of the host is to welcome newcomers, share highlights of the prior conversation and invite people to share. 

•After the last round, we harvest the learning together.

The Job of the Host

•Welcome & invite people to their seats

•Pose the first question (posted)

•Encourage everyone to “lean in” and share 

•At the end of the first round, the host stays while everyone else travels

•Introduce 2nd question

•At the end of the 2nd round, the host stays while everyone else travels again

•Introduce the 3rd question

•Harvest the learning

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Round 1 (10 mins)

What actions can you take to bolster implementation of

Strengthening Families in your program, in your community and/or in Wisconsin?

Round 2 (10 mins)

In thinking about your work to implement Strengthening Families (or doing the types of activities we have discussed today), what are some times when it really went well?

What were the factors or conditions that helped it succeed especially well at that time?

Round 3 (8 mins)

Please identify two to three people with whom you will share this information and discuss why

they are important to getting the word out.

Harvesting the Learning

Of the ideas and themes that emerged throughout the day, what stands out as most important? Most energizing?

What are you planning to do differently as a result of what has been shared and discussed today?

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www.cssp.orgwww.strengtheningfamilies.net