February is Family Support Awareness Month

February 11, 2022

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Family Support Awareness month celebrates ways in which family support services such as home visitation and parent education can strengthen the Five Protective Factors for children and families. Research has shown that home visiting and parenting education programs help to build protective factors that can:

✅ reduce the risk of abuse and neglect
✅ strengthen family relationships
✅ promote children’s healthy development.

Developed by the National Alliance of Children’s Trust & Prevention Funds, The Strengthening Families Protective Factors Framework aims to develop and enhance five specific characteristics (called protective factors) that help keep families strong and children safe from abuse and neglect. When the following Five Protective Factors are in place, families have a better chance for positive outcomes and children are protected against risk factors:

Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development
Social Connections
Concrete Supports
Social and Emotional Competence of Children
Parental Resilience

“Parents are their children’s first and most important teacher,” said Joe Coffey, Director of Community Engagement at One Place. “We want to empower parents and caregivers with the tools and information that they need to create the most stable, healthy, and secure attachments between themselves and the children in their lives.”

At One Place, the Five Protective Factors are woven throughout all of our programs and services as we work to ensure all children and families are safe, healthy, and living to their fullest potential.

Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development

One Place recognizes the need, now more than ever, to support parents and caregivers in their growing knowledge of early childhood development. “Children thrive when parents provide not only affection, but also respectful communication and listening, consistent rules and expectations, and safe opportunities that promote independence” (www.preventchildabusenc.org, 2022).

Early Head Start offers a home visitation program for pregnant women as well as a center-based option for children under the age of three. EHS shares child development information with the support of the Teaching Strategies Gold curriculum. TS Gold supports parents and caregivers in understanding “widely held expectations” for child development.
Both EHS and our preschool programs utilize the Ages & Stages developmental screening tools to provide baseline developmental information to families as well as ongoing updates and progress on each individual child’s development during their time in the program.

One Place offers monthly training opportunities available to the community to include early educators and parents on topics ranging from child abuse prevention and child safety, to literacy and healthy eating. Check out upcoming trainings here.

The Triple P – Positive Parenting Program ® is a parenting and family support system designed to prevent – as well as treat – behavioral and emotional problems in children and teenagers. It aims to prevent problems in the family, school and community before they arise and to create family environments that encourage children to realize their potential. All North Carolina residents can sign up for Triple P Online, at no cost.

Social Connections

One Place offers opportunities for parents to learn from one another’s experiences through our Back Porch Chat series. Back Porch Chats are NOT trainings. They are virtual experiences intended to be casual and fun in an interactive environment where participants can share their experiences, thoughts and ideas with one another. The first Back Porch Chat series held a common theme around exploring the Five Protective Factors with families. In April 2022, we will revisit that theme with a Back Porch Chat every Wednesday evening during the month. More information about the upcoming Back Porch Chat series will be available via One Place social media (Facebook) (LinkedIn)

Concrete Supports

One Place employs a strengths-based approach across all programs and services to best support children and families. This helps parents feel valued because they are acknowledged as knowledgeable and competent.

Our Child Care Resource and Referral team provides families with referrals, resources and information on various concrete supports available in the community including high-quality child care, child passenger seat safety, housing, food, and much more, in collaboration with NCCARE360.
Parents partnering with One Place through Early Head Start receive community resources and information regularly as part of program participation.
Families of children seen in the One Place Child Advocacy Center receive referrals for mental health care and other resources vital to the healing process.

Social and Emotional Competence of Children

Early childhood experiences set the stage for future health, well-being and learning. One Place provides early education programs that support children’s healthy development during the first 2,000 days of life when critical brain development occurs. Our programs:

Work to ensure social-emotional competence in children by assisting them in developing the capacity to experience and regulate emotion, form secure relationships, and explore and learn – all in the context of the child’s family, community and culture.
Educate parents and caregivers about the importance of social and emotional development and how to support it through loving, responsive, positive interactions.
Prepare early educators to promote and support healthy social and emotional development through coaching, training, and inclusion services.
Integrate strategies to support social and emotional development into all programs that serve young children and their families to include Early Head Start, Three School, and NC Pre-K.

Parental Resilience

Parents who can cope with the stresses of everyday life, as well an occasional crisis, have resilience; they have the flexibility and inner strength necessary to bounce back when things are not going well. Our programs encourage parental resilience by:

Valuing parents as their child’s first and most important teacher and honoring each family’s race, language, culture, history, and approach to parenting.
Engaging in a strengths-based approach to family interactions across all programs.
Supporting parents as decision-makers and empowering them to build decision-making and leadership skills in making informed decisions for their family and accessing community resources.
Preschool programs encourage parent engagement in and outside the classroom.

If you have questions please call 910-938-0336 or visit www.oneplaceonslow.org for more information. Click here to learn more about the 5 Protective Factors.