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Funded by: |  |
 Sponsored by:Concord Connections
Core Physicians-Core Pediatrics
Becket Family of Services
Catholic Diocese of Manchester
Centrix Bank
Children's Hospital at Dartmouth
Child and Family Services of NH
Concord Children's Initiative
Crossroad's Chiropractic
Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
Family Support New Hampshire
General Federation of Women's Clubs, NH
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
Northeast Delta Dental
Riverbend Community Mental Health
SNHU-Graduate Program in Community Mental Health
TrueBlueMatch.com
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Julie Day, Strengthening Families Director |
Dear Friends:
On Monday, March 19, with support from the Endowment for Health and numerous other partners, the first annual Strengthening Families Summit was held at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord. Two hundred and fifty child and family providers and parent leaders from over 60 organizations actively participated in the Summit.
The Strengthening Families Summit launched the statewide implementation of the Strengthening Families protective factors framework through multiple child and family serving disciplines including early care and education, home visiting, family support, child welfare, physical, mental and behavioral health, education and faith groups.
Our intentions are to partner with many different organizations throughout the state to start conversations in communities in regards to building Strengthening Family partnerships across disciplines.An online training, Bringing the Protective Factors Framework to Life, will be soon be available in New Hampshire for professional development.
Read on for more information about the Strengthening Families protective factors framework and the Summit. Please contact me for more information about embedding this important work across sectors in your community.
Sincerely,
Julie Day
Julie Day
Strengthening Families Director
(603) 224-1279
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| What is Strengthening Families? | A Prevention Framework
Strengthening Families is an evidence-based child abuse and neglect prevention framework. The Strengthening Families Approach is not new to New Hampshire; beginning in 2005 in partnership with the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), New Hampshire became one of the first nine partner states. We've moved from ten to over thirty early care and education programs and many more home visiting and family support programs that promote the Strengthening Families protective factors framework.
The Summit sought to increase knowledge about the Strengthening Families framework and support the development of regional teams to fully embed the framework in every community. The Summit featured a nationally recognized team of trainers from Tennessee who advised and inspired attendees by sharing the successful statewide implementation in Tennessee. Attendees were encouraged to integrate the Strengthening Families framework into their everyday work with families by focusing on the five Protective Factors: parental resilience, social connections, concrete support in times of need, knowledge of parenting and child development, social and emotional competence of children.
Click for the link to Tennessee's Parent Ambassador booklet.
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Partnering with Healthcare Providers
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The Summit also featured Dr. Peirce Hunter of Bow, a pediatrician with Dartmouth Hitchcock Pediatrics in Bedford and Dr. Frederick "Skip" Berrien, a retired pediatrician from Exeter and Tami-Lynne Chevalier, family support worker from Children's Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. The trio presented on Integrating Strengthening Families into healthcare. Participants came from a variety of child and family serving fields including: healthcare, home visiting, family support, community agencies, state agencies, education and parenting.
 | | Dr. Peirce Hunter presenting in the Healthcare session. |
What We Learned
Much of the ensuing discussion and commentary fell into three general categories.
- There is a perception that truly family-centered and strength-based pediatric and family practices are few and far between, leading to the question of how the population of such providers might be expanded.
- There is often a lack of knowledge among medical providers of the community-based resources available to their families, leading to the question of how medical providers can be better informed of, and connected to, community supports that can support good health by building the protective factors. Connections between medical providers and community agencies were encouraged through participation in local public health and other networks and through simple outreach.
- There is an overwhelming sentiment expressed by participants that they learned of additional programs, services and supports through conversation, and that participants made some connections with fellow attendees to further their own work.
Mary Ann Aldrich, RN, Director of Clinical Operations, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Manchester and board member at the New Hampshire Children's Trust was quoted following the Summit, saying:
"Collaboration between health care providers and community partners in social service agencies, education as well as parents is vital to insure best practices are utilized to support our children and their families. Opportunities like the summit for dialogue and interaction will help build the foundation for positive change." |
| Partnering with Parents |
Terri Clyde of Merrimack, parent, guardian, parent leader and volunteer at the Adult Learning Center in Nashua, along with Jane Marquis, Child Care Coordinator at the Early Childhood Adventures Program of the Adult Learning Center, presented about the importance of embedding the Protective Factors Framework in Child Care agencies and Family Support Groups.
Terri told of her difficult journey with her grandson/ adoptive son Johnny. She had to make tough choices and rely on a child care center that was unfamiliar to her. Through this journey she and the agency have grown together and Terri has been offered opportunities she may not have otherwise had.
At the Adult Learning Center, Terri shares with the family support group resources and opportunities to become more involved with policies at the state level. This relationship is mutually beneficial and demonstrates the importance of supporting parent partnerships.
Terri's story is similar to that of many New Hampshire families. The summit modeled an important tenant of the Strengthening Families approach by including the parent voice in the plenary and workshop.
As part of Terri's workshop, she shared a strategy to help parents advocate for themselves and their families that she implemented at the Adult Learning Center called A.R.T. (Advocacy, Role Modeling and Teaching). She shares this with staff and parents. But most important she lives it. And the fact that she is offered the chance to share her work validates who she is and what she believes in. There was a wealth of positive feedback about A.R.T. from summit attendees, including: "I liked ART! Really cool! I will use it!" and "Loved learning about ART and ways to improve our own support group."
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