Family Strengthening: Click Here to Find Out What’s New?
We know that stronger, more resilient families create stronger, more resilient youth. And the need for family support is even more significant with continuing uncertainties in the economy and extended deployments for Alaska’s military. More and more of Alaska’s families need out-of-school care and support, and Camp Fire is here to help provide that.
In 2011, Camp Fire received a grant from Strengthening Families Alaska to implement the Strengthening Families Protective Factors framework at three of our school-age program sites: Lake Otis, Chinook and Airport Heights. Based on a national program from the Center for the Study of Social Policy, researched and developed with funding from the Doris Duke Foundation, Strengthening Families works to support family resiliency by building up protective factors that are known to be correlated with the reduction of child abuse and neglect.
Those factors are: parental resilience; social connections; knowledge of parenting and child development; concrete support in times of need; and healthy social and emotional competence of children. Healthy and supported parents raise healthy and supported children, and families thrive when these protective factors are robust in their lives and communities.
Each site established a leadership team made up of the site director, a program manager or lead site director from the Camp Fire office and a parent whose child is in the program. Those groups met weekly with a coach, provided by the thread network, to help them develop an implementation plan. Each site focused on three specific ways to help strengthen the families with which they work. Camp Fire is excited about the potential for using the Strengthening Families model throughout our school-age program over the next few years.
To learn more or find out how your child’s program site can be involved, please contact our Family Services Manager.
