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Child Abuse Prevention Programs THE PROGRAM for Women and Families’ Child Abuse Prevention Programs (C.A.P.P.) provide ongoing community-based services to parents who – because of their own histories of abuse, lack of social and interpersonal skills and lack of economic resources – are at high risk of maltreating their own children. C.A.P.P. utilizes an evidence-based preventive approach that works directly with mothers and fathers to improve their parenting skills in order to prevent child abuse before it happens. C.A.P.P. services include three distinct programs for parents identified as at high risk of abusing and/or neglecting their children: Parenting Classes; Parent Support Groups: and Parent Aide Services. A fourth program, Parents and Children Together (P.A.C.T.), plays an important role in efforts to prevent child abuse among families at risk of abuse in the Lehigh Valley (see Community Treatment Programs). THE PROGRAM’s Parenting Classes offer educational programming in regularly scheduled, eight-week cycles. Classes focus on childhood developmental stages, including social and emotional growth, methods of positive, age-appropriate discipline techniques, coping skills for parents and effective communications with children. Parents may participate voluntarily, by referral from Lehigh or Northampton County Children and Youth authorities, or by court order. Changes in knowledge and overall comprehension of the class materials are measured in pre- and post-tests administered before and after each class cycle. Successful class participants are awarded certificates of completion to document their accomplishments. Over two hundred parents and children benefit from the lessons learned in THE PROGRAM’s Parenting Classes every year. Parenting Classes are supported by funds received under the terms of contracts with the Lehigh and Northampton Counties’ respective departments of Children, Youth and Family Services. Support also comes from client fees (paid on the basis of a sliding scale) and by grants from local foundations and gifts from individual donors. A special class for women housed at the Women’s Residential Community Center and identified at risk of abusing and neglecting their children is supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Children’s Trust Fund and a Lehigh County Office of Children and Youth Child Abuse Prevention grant. This specialized project is called The Family Reunification Project. Parent Support Groups provided by THE PROGRAM are affiliated with the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance. The format of Parent Support Groups is based on the mutual support and concern of parents for each other. The groups are ongoing and parent-driven. With the support of professional facilitators from THE PROGRAM, parents determine the content of each group to fit their immediate needs. Group participants may join at anytime, for as long as they wish; there is no charge for group participants. The groups are unstructured and provide a safe environment within which parents learn to cope with the daily difficulties of child-rearing. Participants may remain anonymous. THE PROGRAM for Women and Families offers two weekly groups: one for mothers separated from their children, the other for all parents seeking support in raising their children. Parent Support Groups are supported by funds received under the terms of a contract with Northampton County Department of Children, Youth and Family Services, by the Trexler Trust and other local foundations, by a grant from the Pennsylvania Children’s Trust Fund and by gifts from individual donors. Parent Aide Services provide families with a year-long program of weekly in-home visitations with a professional parenting educator who works with parents to target individualized areas of their parenting skills in need of improvement. The Parent Aide helps parents establish specific short and long term parenting goals. The Parent Aide teaches parents how to cope with daily problems, serves as an outside social control by monitoring for signs of abuse and neglect in the home, serves as a model for acceptable parenting by demonstrating appropriate parenting techniques in the home, and addresses the special individualized needs of each family as they arise. The goal plans of the parents provide the structure and focus for the weekly visits. Measurable outcomes and completion status are determined according to progress on individualized goal plans. Monthly summaries, mid-year and closing questionnaires and a three-month follow up are also provided. In The Family Reunification Project, funded by the Pennsylvania Children’s Trust Fund and Lehigh County, women offenders leaving the Women’s Residential Community Center may choose to work with a Parent Aide who will be joined by a Child Development Specialist. The Child Development Specialist will work with the children during home visitations, monitoring for age-appropriate development. The Parent Aide Home Visitation program is funded by The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, the Pennsylvania Children’s Trust Fund, and by the Trexler Trust and other local foundations.
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This site last maintained July 15, 2008 |
