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Mailman School
of Public Health
Columbia University
722 West 168th Street,
8th Floor
New York, NY 10032
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Helping children by strengthening families: A look at family support programs Marylee Allen, Patricia Brown and Belva Finlay Family support programs are community-based parenting support and education programs through which lay and professional workers reach out to families through home visits, peer support groups, house-to-house canvassing, or in neighborhood centers, schools, and other community facilities. They seek to provide practical and emotional support to ensure healthy child development and family well-being. They are also prevention-oriented, compared to traditional family intervention programs, reflect cultural sensitivity and flexibility toward family and community needs, and offer a range of services. This report describes what family support programs do, how they function, why they are needed, and what makes them effective with families who have problems, including low-income families. Descriptions of 30 programs reflect the settings in which family support and education principles work well. Maryland's Friends of the Family Network and Missouri's Parents as Teachers (PAT) program are statewide, and some initially local and statewide efforts have become national program movements, such as PAT and HIPPY (Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters). As human services systems reorganize, more family support personnel will be needed, and programs need to mold their practices to individual communities.
Children's Defense Fund
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Disclaimer Free To Grow is a national program supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with direction and technical assistance provided by the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. |