Written by: Jess Kimball
Families in Need
The number of adults in the United States are increasing at a much faster rate than the number of children. Diversity in ethnicity is growing at a faster rate for children in the United States than it is for adults. These changes have implications for our labor force, public education sectors, and policy making as a whole. Less people want to have children due to economic crises, childcare shortages, and housing crises nationwide. This creates a cycle in which our economy and communities are harmed by the number of community members dwindling over time. It is important to create safe environments that encourage families to have the number of children they want, without the risk of not being able to access basic needs for themselves and their children. When families are able to meet basic needs such as food, housing, and medical care, parents and other caregivers experience less stress, which allows them to provide the critical support that children need to grow into healthy, productive adults. Family support services are a way to help families meet their children’s needs. Family Support Services are community-based services that assist and support parents in their role as caregivers. Such services can take a variety of forms, depending on the strengths and needs of the family, but their overarching goal is to help parents enhance skills and resolve problems to promote optimal child development. Investing in families creates better health and economic outcomes.
Parenting Groups
Parent support groups provide informal mutual support and opportunities to discuss parenting challenges and strategies. They can be an effective way to help parents open up and build trust in their community, speaking with other parents going through similar experiences. Groups can be specific to a certain period such as infancy, toddlerhood, kindergarten, or the teen years. They may be specifically for dads, moms, single parents, special needs, BIPOC parents, widowed parents, or LGBTQIA+ parents. They are typically led by a licensed professional who has experience in group counseling or group therapy. Parenting groups can be an equitable way to help people access emotional and informational support.
Family Stabilization
Family Stabilization programs offer families facing a wide array of challenges the support that they need to remain together. Programs may include substance misuse support, therapy, parent education, crisis intervention, housing support, and additional interventions and resources which improve the children’s homes through strength and community-based methods.
- Target population: Families who have come to the attention of child welfare services and are in crisis and/or facing imminent risk of having their child(ren) removed
- Services: Assessment, case planning, case management, education, and/or skill building
- Delivered by: Child welfare workers, mental health professionals, or trained paraprofessionals
Children in Crisis
60% of children have been exposed to violence in what is supposed to be their safest communities, at home and in school. According to UNICEF, at least 120 million girls under the age of 20 – about 1 in 10 – have been forced to engage in sex or perform other sexual acts. Roughly 90 percent of adolescent girls who report forced sex say that their first perpetrator was someone they knew, usually a boyfriend or a husband. During armed conflict, natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies, women and children are especially vulnerable to sexual violence. Our Child in Crisis Rapid Response Fund is one way we support this vulnerable population. It aims to target vulnerable populations of children with aid and support to better their lives, and to set them up for success in the future, by working to eliminate the threat of violence and other environmental circumstances that may place them in times of crisis.
Equitable Family Engagement and Policy Work
Equitable family engagement is centered on embracing the unique characteristics and strengths of all families, and through building partnerships with families. Engaging with families is an effective way to understand community needs and priorities, but often families are left out of the stakeholder meetings that determine the resources they will be utilizing. In order to create equitable experiences and policies for family services, we need to reduce barriers, build trust, prioritize racial and health equity, use effective communication, and provide training and educational programs for parents.
The Family Fund
The Family Fund provides support to grassroot organizations and parenting groups. The fund focuses on supporting family stabilization; support from the family for girls/youth who have been in crisis; and parent groups and families who engage in community activism and organizing for issues relevant to their family and communities. The fund is also interested in equitable family policies and advocacy efforts around family equity & justice, including resources for disadvantaged mothers and parents from vulnerable populations.