Child Welfare Partnerships


	Use these next four slides to discuss the foundation for the family support movement/philosophy as outlined in these slides. Note that this definition is available the Family Support America website. Note that it is an approach that calls on everyone to contribute and values the contribution of everyone.


	A set of beliefs and an approach to strengthening and empowering families and communities so that they can foster the optimal development of children, youth, and adult family members

	A type of grassroots, community-based program designed to prevent family problems by strengthening parent-child relationships and providing whatever parents need in order to be good nurturers and providers. These programs have been proliferating

	A shift in human services delivery that encourages public and private agencies to work together and to become more preventive, responsive, flexible, family-focused, strengths-based, and holistic—and thus more effective.

	A movement for social change that urges all of us—policymakers, program providers, parents, employers—to take responsibility for improving the lives of children and families. The family support movement strives to transform our society into caring communities of citizens that put children and families first and that ensure that all children and families get what they need to succeed.

	To bring these s point“alive” the presenter may want to include examples to illustrate each of the elements of Family Support.

	For example: Some of the first programs to call themselves Family Resource Centers, evovlved from a grassroots movement organized by parents of special needs children. These centers evolved after parents, frustrated by lack of access to resources and isolation, began organizing support networks. Eventually, these groups evolved into local community centers known as FRCs.

	Alternatively, the trainer may ask participants to take a moment to think about the programs with which they work and identify which, if any, of these elements are present in their work.