Summary
There are four common co-occurring issues—parental substance abuse, parental mental illness, domestic violence, and child conduct problems—that are related to parenting and that lead to child maltreatment (Barth, 2009). Understanding and responding to these issues is vital for our parental education programming goals of preventing abuse and other forms of maltreatment. My program will be focusing its efforts in low-income communities where resources for parents may not be readily available or accessible to help prevent various forms of child maltreatment. By providing resources and education to parents, we can help to educate caretakers on topics such as financial planning and independence, best time management and behavior management techniques for their children through our classes and topical workshops.
As an organization we also want to focus on educating caretakers on stress-relieving and positive mental health strategies by offering one-on-one and group therapy sessions. Through cognitive behavioral therapy, we can help parents better understand their emotions, their actions, and empower them to seek healthy alternatives such as adopting healthy coping skills. My center will offer an outdoor playground, a food pantry, childcare services (while parents are taking classes) and education courses and special topic workshops to community members. We will also be offering special education classes to parents who are court-ordered for cases such as divorce, child services, custody cases, etc.
Levels of Socio-Logic Model
At the individual level, we will be looking at the caretakers' susceptibility to engage in risky behavior of substance or alcohol use as well as understanding any genetic predisposition or personal trauma that could lead them to use or depend on substances in their lifetimes. At the societal level, we will want to take into consideration the legislative action that may follow for screening for substance use or dependency and ensuring that we can find and target the vulnerable populations without putting them at risk for negative outcomes from organizations like DCF or other child welfare agencies. We will be utilizing a referral service for caretakers who need help overcoming substance abuse and/or dependency as well as for those who may be seeking shelter and other forms of help from domestic violence. At the community level we aim to partner with other sister agencies who can help to provide other resources to caretakers. This would include programs that focus on food security, domestic violence shelters, and those who can help caretakers apply for aid such as SNAP, Medicaid, and Section Eight Housing, etc.
Trauma-Informed Principles
My organization will be using SAMHSA’s trauma-informed principles as a guide for our trauma-informed care (SAMHSA, 2014). Our employees will be given in-depth training upon being hired which will focus on the six principles for a trauma-informed approach. Mainly, we will focus on maintaining safety for the children that we serve who could be in harm’s way, build a relationship on trust and transparency so the caretakers can have absolute control during their time at the center, and we will promote the need for peer support and collaboration through our peer support groups that are offered to caretakers (SAMHSA, 2014).
Public Health Framework
Providing help to parents through education and support can help to reduce the risks of child maltreatment (Hodgdon et al., 2016, p. 50). If caregivers feel that they have no-one to turn to for advice, a break in parenting through a sitter service, or any other systemic issues that are rooted in poverty, such as lack of food security, then they may be more likely to act on heightened emotions and abuse the children, whether intentionally or unintentionally, out of aggression, frustration, misunderstanding, hopelessness, or for other reasons. Through our programming we can help to build a support system and allow for social and professional networking opportunities for the families that come to the center for help through our support groups. We can encourage positive mental health and for families to seek aid when they need it, as well as to promote education amongst parents on ways in which they can better their lives and the lives of their families too.
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