Project Description:
1. Need: The parent-child relationship is known to exert a powerful influence on child development and a high quality caregiving relationship can even mediate environmental risk factors on child development. These protective factors can diminish the manifestation of emotional and behavioral disorders in children as well as improve developmental outcomes. Research documents a strong link between relational qualities such as caregiver sensitivity and infant attachment to behavioral adaptation and emotional regulation in young children and programs targeting parenting have been associated with improved parental nurturance and discipline and child school readiness in preschool populations. Mother-child relationships characterized by mutual expressions of positive affect and closeness are associated with a number of early school outcome variables such as peer social skills, work habits and frustration tolerance. In addition, higher levels of competence in mother-child interaction predict higher child competence and lower child behavior problems in kindergarten. These findings suggest that the quality of the caregiver-child relationship may significantly impact developmental outcomes for young children. Relationship-based interventions encourage parents to use responsive interactive strategies during routine interactions with their children.
2. Overall Goals and Objectives: The Families First Network has established an extensive network of community-based partnerships to deliver and evaluate evidence-based, relationship-focused parenting prevention services for families of young children. Program goals include strengthening families through improved knowledge and application of positive parenting strategies, optimizing parent-child relationships, and promoting child health and development in young children. Additional goals include ensuring that service activities are culturally competent and sensitive, enhancing parent community involvement, and linking parents to available community resources. Project activities are based on best practice concepts from child development theory and evidence-based research that supports the importance of positive parent-child relationships in facilitating optimal child development.
3. Unusual Features: Families First partners with more than 20 community organizations, childcare facilities, and health care sites to implement and evaluate evidence-based, culturally competent, prevention-oriented parenting services. Services are universal, offered in Spanish and English, and utilize different venues and formats within the community to accommodate family interests, schedules, and needs. The following three core programmatic activities are offered:
Parenting Groups: Families First offers 2 evidence-based/best practice, relationship-focused parenting groups, one focused on mothers with infants (Baby and Me) and one focused more broadly on parents with young children (Strengthening Multi-Ethnic Families.
Community Seminars: Monthly seminars (60-90 minutes) are provided in childcare settings and address a number of important parenting topics.
Individualized Developmental Consultation: Collaborating pediatric health care sites are staffed with Developmental Specialists who provide individual consultations with parents/caregivers of young children to provide education/guidance regarding parenting topics related to young children.
4. Expected Benefits: It is anticipated that the Families First Network will increase the number of high quality parenting prevention programs offered in community settings in Miami-Dade County. Expected outcomes include increasing parental knowledge of developmentally appropriate parenting skills, improving knowledge of age-appropriate developmental milestones and expectations, with longer term impacts including increasing parental application of positive discipline practices, and promoting positive parent-child interactions by increasing parental sensitivity and responsivity to children's emotional needs.
Keyword(s):
Parenting, Developmental Consultation, Prevention
Core Function(s):
Performing Technical Assistance and/or Training, Performing Research or Evaluation, Developing & Disseminating Information
Area of Emphasis
Education & Early Intervention, Child Care-Related Activities, Other
Target Audience:
Family Members/Caregivers, General Public
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas, Urban, Other
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
Single-County
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
