RI

strong families

safe children

Benefits Statement

Strengthening Families RI is a program of the National Center for the Study of Social Policy’s Strengthening Families Through Early Care and Education Initiative which is an evidence-based approach seeking to strengthen the social and emotional development of children and to create a child abuse and neglect prevention framework that shifts the focus of child abuse prevention efforts from family risks and deficits to family strengths and resiliency.

The goal of Strengthening Families RI is to create a widespread understanding of what early care and education programs and providers can do to further promote a stronger, healthier family unit. The program focuses attention on Early Care and Education programs to build stronger, more effective partnerships and communication between parents and professionals in the fields of family support, parent education, early care and education and child abuse and neglect.

The benefits of participating in this program are:

Long Term Benefits

A mutually supportive TEAM environment:

· Parent & staff partnership – a cooperative team for the benefit of children

· Stewardship – everyone’s held accountable to making change

SF Protective Factors framework integrated throughout

program:

· Continuous program improvement and development

· Stronger program policies and procedures

Children’s Development

· Improving Social and Emotional Development

Staff growth and development:

· Fostering a culture that supports professional development

· Developing new competencies for working with parents

· Increasing awareness of community and Rhode Island professional development opportunities and resources

Family Engagement:

· Enhancing the program’s capacity to value families as partners in the education of young children

· Empowering parents to voice their opinions regarding their state, community, and early care and education programs

Reduction of child expulsion levels:

· Addressing the challenging needs of families to ensure stable relationships with providers

· Fostering appropriate responses to challenging children

Improved Early Warning System:

· Improving the staff’s ability to observe and respond to early warning signs of child abuse or neglect

· Establishing written policies and procedures regarding child abuse or neglect reporting

Community resource partnership:

· Increasing awareness of community-based resources

· Improved understanding and relations with child welfare systems

· Developing a system of referral for these resources

· Developing a mutually supportive partnership with the community resources

Certifications and accreditations:

· Build family engagement strategies in alignment with Rhode Island Quality Rating System Standards

· Aligned with National Association of the Education of Young Children accreditation criteria

Short Term Benefits

Onsite Technical Assistance: (up to 4 hours monthly)

· Assisting in the completion of the Self-Assessment

· Facilitating development of the Individual Program Improvement Plan – based on Self-Assessment

· At least one site visit per month (SFRI coordinator and/or family engagement consultant)

· Facilitating links to community and state opportunities

· Supporting the development of new parent engagement opportunities

· Building Parent leadership in support of program

No cost community-based core trainings:

· Series-based training on the protective factors – 16 hours

- Includes homework and reflection on how ideas and techniques are working in their programs

Shared Learning:

· Access to electronic community information system of peers and professionals

· Facilitating quarterly meetings of all community-based participants

Community Resources:

· Improved understanding and relations with child welfare systems

· Introduction to community resources

Memorandum of Agreement

This is an agreement between the Pilot Programs of Strengthening Families RI and the Strengthening Families RI (SFRI) program.

The purpose of this agreement is to establish and implement a partnership between the pilot program sites and SFRI which will build on existing program strengths and integrate Strengthening Families theories and principles into their program infrastructure.

The Pilot program agrees to:

1. Complete the Self-Assessment

- Develop an achievable plan

- Implementation of said plan and document progress

2. Participate in Core training

- Must include:

· Owner/director

· Head teacher

· Lead teachers: age group leaders (50%)

- Participants will commit to becoming the implementation team

3. Shared Learning

- One implementation team member is required to attend all four community meetings