The Core of Our Solution
With your
assistance, we aim to contribute towards redressing the challenges by offering
an enhanced version of the notorious and effective Strengthening Families,
Strengthening Communities parenting educational programme.
This program is modelled on its Strengthening Multi-Ethnic
Families: A Violence Prevention Programme, the US predecessor, developed by Dr.
Marilyn Steele alongside Jerry Tello, Ronald Johnson and Marilyn Marigna in the
early 1990s. It was geared towards dealing with multiple issues, including (but not
limited to) domestic and gang
violence, an increasing concern in the UK as the recent riots
testify.
The Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities parenting
educational programme is a community based 13 week four hour programme,
specifically designed to promote some of the protective factors associated with
'good parenting' (developing close and warm relationships between parents and
children; using methods of discipline that support self-discipline in children;
fostering self-esteem of children; developing strategies to deal with risky
situations; managing anger etc).
At the same time SFSC deals with the factors in parenting that are
associated with increased risk (inconsistent parenting; harsh discipline in an
overly critical environment; limited supervision; isolation and lack of
knowledge of community resources). Importantly, the SFSC approach emphasizes
that parenting is impacted by the local environment (for example the
availability of good schools) and that parents should play an active role in
shaping this environment by engaging with community
resources.
The SFSC parent educational programme is based on a strengths based 'facilitative model' which aims to raise the consciousness of parents. In addition, the curriculum aims to help families develop or promote: strong ethnic and cultural roots; positive parent-child relationships; a range of life skills; self-esteem, self-discipline and social competence; and an ability to access community resources.
- providing parents with information to empower
them;
- developing anger management and positive discipline
techniques;
- providing a cultural framework to validate the historical and
family experiences of different ethnic groups;
- decreasing isolation by helping parents to connect to
community resources.
- both urban and rural settings;
- with men as well as women ? teenage parents; single parents,
both parents attending together or separately and parents who do not have
custody of their children;
- with a range of ethnic groups, religious and educational
backgrounds;
- a wide variety of agencies such as voluntary, statutory and partnership organisations, and community groups .