Grantees

Support yearly, at least two 10-weel Nurturing Parenting classes to single mothers and their children in Bennington County who have been involved in abusive relationships.

This program plans to address issues that many foster and adoptive parents face raising young children, strengthen families, reduce the rate of return of children into foster care, and reduce movement of children within the foster care system. Vermont is in dire need of more foster and adoptive parents as DCF has taken more children into custody in recent years, particularly children under 6, because of the opiate addiction problems we are facing. These parents have a wide variety of challenges and need support. We propose to offer 3 Circle of Parent Support Groups and 2 Nurturing Parenting Programs for Foster and Adoptive Families. These programs will strengthen parenting skills and reduce foster home and adoptive failures.

Educate, support and empower teen parents to have healthy, nurturing relationships with their children. Through the Nurturing Program for Teenage Parents, participants will build parenting skills and receive support, thus helping to ensure that they and their young children live in safe, caring home environments.

A parent education program.

The parenting education program we are launching is an expansion of our Parents as Teachers (PAT) initiative, which is an evidence-based home visiting model that seeks to build strong communities, thriving families and children who are healthy, safe and ready to learn. The new program will offer six-week sessions to families with new or expectant mothers who have recently had a child removed from the home by DCF or are at risk of this, and have become pregnant soon after. While we are targeting this group initially, it will be open to other families as well, as we think all these families can benefit from an inclusive setting.

Address the education and support needs of parents to help them be the first and best teachers of their children. A part-time parent educator coordinates a wide variety of education and support opportunities including ongoing playgroups, single session education programs and long term multi-session education program.

The Family Place seeks to meet the growing request from families and other community partners for more parent education opportunities and playgroups, through additional and more diverse program offerings. We fulfill a need to provide strength-based parenting education services, so that all parents – including those considered the most vulnerable or high-risk – acquire skills to strengthen their families. Research shows providing supports at the earliest opportunity can make a difference in the strength and health of families and a child’s foundation for future learning.

The Parent Engagement Project aims to involve families in activities that help increase protective factors, reduce the chances of abuse, and allow parents to recognize their own growth.