This tip card offers guidance to fatherhood practitioners who are facilitating groups. Participation in peer learning and support groups is a key ingredient of many fatherhoodprograms. When done effectively, group sessions can be the “glue” that keeps men involved in a wider program and leadsto powerful life changes for them and their families.
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The Sustainability Framework and Assessment Tool was developed at the Center for Public Health Systems Science (CPHSS), a public health research center at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. The Center’s work in the area of sustainability began in 2003 with Project LEaP, a rigorous process evaluation examining the effects of funding reductions on eight state tobacco control programs. Recognizing that sustainability is a significant challenge for not only public health, but also social service and clinical care programs, in 2010 CPHSS began…
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Addressing the scope and depth of harm that high incarceration rates impose on society requires a concerted strategic approach that addresses the full spectrum of causes and consequences of the incarceration crisis. Public health provides a useful frame in shaping this strategic approach, particularly in its conceptualization of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Primary prevention entails actions to prevent a condition or disease from occurring (for example, a low sodium diet to prevent high blood pressure). Secondary prevention includes interventions that occur after the onset of…
This fact sheet explains South Dakota allows childhood immunization exemptions based on religious belief, but is only one of 31 that do not allow philosophical exemptions. Minimum immunization requirements for entering school or an early childhood program in South Dakota are then reviewed, and research on the effectiveness of vaccinations is shared. Charts are included that illustrate South Dakota and the nation had a 93% rate of polio immunization in 2012, South Dakota trails the surrounding States in any vaccination, and that South Dakota and Wyoming are tied for the lowest percentage of…
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Many children experience adversity in the form of poverty, abuse or neglect, homelessness, or other conditions that make them vulnerable to the damaging effects of chronic stress. New research reveals that chronic stress alters their rapidly developing biological systems in ways that undermine their ability to succeed in school and in life. The good news is that we have strong evidence for programs and approaches that policy makers could use to help these children overcome the effects of stress. Home visitation and early childhood health care can give parents much-needed support and…
This fact sheet explores results of the 2009/2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN) and compares and contrasts the Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s six outcomes for South Dakota and the nation. It begins with background information on the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, the Maternal and Child Health Services Black Grant, and the six core outcomes that describe what families should expect for the service system. The six care areas are: partnering with families in shared decision-making for child’s optimal health; coordinated, ongoing, comprehensive care…
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This slide presentation begins by explaining key components of child well-being, including: physical health, development, and safety; psychological and emotional development; social development and behavior; and cognitive development and educational achievement. Information is then provided on inputs that impact child well-being outcomes and reasons social workers need to focus on the positive inputs. Reasons include: the Declaration of Independence that focuses on the right of men to the pursuit of happiness, good science, fully describes children and youth, can be measured well, and to…
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This set of three slide presentations shares findings on the effectiveness of home visiting programs in engaging fathers. The first presentation discusses findings from a study that reviewed research on programs and services to support fathers, including the use of home visiting programs. It found home-visiting programs for fathers are uncommon but may be increasing, most programs are an expansion of services offered to mothers and children, programs may have difficulty convincing families and staff that the programs are for men, and that there is insufficient research to evaluate the…
Recruitment can be the hardest part of organizing a fatherhood group connection program. If your recruitment and retention efforts are successful, eventually your clients and former participants will make this task easier, but starting from scratch is a challenge. Putting in legwork before and after group connections is crucial to establishing a successful program. Well-planned events and personalized follow-up can help capture fathers' full attention and keep them engaged. (Author abstract)
Part of a series of fact sheets that discuss how and why the child support program provides innovative services to families across six interrelated areas to assure that parents have the tools and resources they need to support their children and be positively involved in raising them, this fact sheet discusses how the child support program promotes children's health. By establishing and enforcing medical support orders, the program can meet its responsibility to secure health care coverage for the children in its caseload by collaborating with private insurers, employers, Medicaid, CHIP, and…
