PRESS RELEASE:

Announcing the Strengthening Families Summit

 

March 19, 2012 Grappone Conference Center, Concord 8:30 to 4:00

Cost: $75

For more information and to register or visit the NH Children's Trust website

  

Hosted by the Strengthening Families Leadership Team made up of Child and Family Services of NH, NH DHHS, Division of Children, Youth and Families, NH DHHS, Division of Public Health Services, Early Childhood Advisory Council, Early Learning NH and the NH Children's Trust.

 

Coordinated by the NH Children's Trust. Contact Julie Day, NHCT, Strengthening Families Director 224-1279

 

The New Hampshire Strengthening Families Leadership Team is pleased to convene a Strengthening Families Summit on March 19, 2012 at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord. This day-long Summit will feature a team from Tennessee who are nationally recognized as successfully embedding the Strengthening Families Approach in their state. Strengthening Families is a framework developed by the Center for the Study of Social Policy to prevent child abuse and neglect. This approach, which is grounded in research, helps child welfare systems, early education, health care and other programs work with parents to build protective factors.

 

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, Child Welfare Information Gateway, protective factors are "conditions in families and communities that, when present, increase the health and well-being of children and families. These attributes serve as buffers, helping parents to find resources, supports, or coping strategies that allow them to parent effectively, even under stress. Research has shown that the following protective factors are linked to a lower incidence of child abuse and neglect":

• Parental Resilience: Parents are able to cope, draw upon their own strengths and other resources.
•  Social Connections: Parents have a community of support, individuals to turn to for support.
•  Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development: Parents provide safe boundaries, consistent rules and expectations, affection, positive discipline, good listening skills.
• Concrete support in times of need: Parents know where to turn to for help. The family has access to resources to meet basic needs.
• Social and Emotional Competence of Children:   The child feels loved and can get along with others. Parents know how to help their children talk about their feelings.

The Strengthening Families Summit will bring practitioners together to learn how they can work across sectors to use this best practice approach while working with families. The Strengthening Families Approach benefits all families, builds on family strengths, buffers risk and promotes better outcomes. This approach can be implemented through small but significant changes in everyday actions.

Who should attend? Parent educators, home visitors, social workers, nurses, medical providers, child protection workers, psychologists, therapists, early childhood educators, parent leaders, teachers and concerned citizens. Continuing Education Units (CEU's) will be provided in Marriage and Family Therapy.

The Endowment for Health is the major Summit sponsor.

Summit sponsors include:

Becket Family of Services

Catholic Diocese of Manchester

Children's Hospital at Dartmouth

Child and Family Services of NH

Concord Connections

Core Physicians-CorePediatrics

Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire

Family Support New Hampshire

National Alliance on Mental Illness, NH

NH Association for Infant Mental Health

NH Catholic Charities-OUR PLACE Program

New Hampshire Children's Trust

NH Department of Health and Human Services

Riverbend Community Mental Health