Brief
This mixed-method evaluation examined five community-based initiatives in Washington State intended to prevent child maltreatment and exposure to toxic stress, mitigate their effects, and improve child and youth development outcomes. The study had two phases. During the first phase (2013–2014), the research team assessed operational contexts, strategies used to increase community capacity to prevent ACEs, and impact at the county level. In the second phase (2015–2016), the researchers examined the extent to which sites developed capacity to achieve their goals, and the relationship of select…
Brief
This brief explains the Two-Generation (Two-Gen) approach for working with families builds well-being by creating a solid and stable foundation through integrated, intensive, and high-quality services in four areas of focus: early childhood education, elementary education, economic stability, and family engagement. It discusses findings from a research study that explored how three States (Connecticut, Colorado, and Utah) are development and implementing a Two-Gen framework in practice and how support for an intentional Two-Gen approach can be translated into a coordinated implementation…
Brief
This brief explains the importance of incorporating father involvement in Strengthening Families programs designed to increase family strengths, enhance child development, and reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect. It explains strategies that programs can be encouraged to use, including employing men as staff members in varied positions and in significant roles, creating an environment that is welcoming and inclusive of all family members, consistently communicating with both fathers and mothers on all issues concerning their children – and making this policy explicit to both…
Brief
This brief describes the five protective factors that are the foundation of the Strengthening Families Approach: parental resilience, social connections, concrete support in times of need, knowledge of parenting and child development, and social and emotional competence of children. It explains the Strengthening Families Approach benefits all families building on family strengths, can be implemented through small but significant changes in everyday actions, can build on existing programs, and is grounded in research. A chart shows levers, strategies, protective factors, and results of the…
Brief
Intended for prevention practitioners, this brief promotes the use of a positive youth development framework that addresses both risk and protective factors to address alcohol abuse and suicide among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adolescents. It begins by providing an overview of the scope of these related problems in Indian Country and identifying four key factors that have been shown to protect AI/AN youth: attachment with caring adults, mastery and self-control, a sense of belonging, and spirituality. These factors are discussed and illustrative examples of positive youth…
Brief
Deployment and its possible consequences, including a service member's injury, psychological trauma, or death, put considerable strain on military children and families. Most of them are resilient in the face of this adversity. Still, the psychological distress they experience can reverberate through the family, impairing the healthy functioning of parents and children alike. As a nation, we owe these families a system of care that emphasizes not just treatment but also prevention, helping them draw on their own resources for resilience, as well as those of their communities. We propose a…
Brief
This brief highlights programs that are re-thinking services for children and families based on the science of early childhood development and understanding of the consequences of adverse early experiences and toxic stress. Efforts by Acelero Learning in New York City, the Westside Infant-Family Network in Los Angeles, and Catholic Community Services of the Mid-Willamette Valley and Central Cost in Oregon are described.
Brief
This article discusses the role of the pediatrician in addressing toxic stress and the development of recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics for implementing prevention, screening, and treatment in clinical practice. The Purposeful Parenting program is highlighted as a way to emphasize face time with infants, and the effectiveness of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy is discussed.
Brief
This brief explores what role fathers play in perpetrating or protecting their children from child neglect and abuse. Studies indicate that fathers, especially married fathers who live with their children, play an important role in protecting their children from abuse and neglect, a fact that is often overlooked by researchers, policymakers, and the media. This is not to say that fathers play no role in child abuse and neglect; research indicates that a little more than a third of maltreatment cases do involve fathers. Accordingly, this brief details the role that fathers play in protecting…
