Family Support Program

Family Support is a support, consultation, and empowerment intervention that is individually tailored to address unique sources of parent, child, and family needs.  The program begins with a process of child and family needs and strengths assessment, initiates further strengths--building through goal setting and strategic planning, and accesses formal and informal community resources and professional services through a negotiated contract with the participants.  The incipient goal of Family Support is to reduce parent/family-level risk by remedying the conditions that produce or perpetuate stress in the lives of families and adversely affect parents’ capacity to nurture and support their child’s health development.

Goal 1:  Promote Well-being
Goal setting focuses on improvements in child, parent, functioning (e.g., child’s involvement in community activities, parent’s weight reduction).

• Empathic listening and emotional support
  

• Motivational counseling
  
• Alliance-building

Goal 2:  Acquire Basic Living Needs
Goal setting focuses on acquisition of basic family needs (e.g., housing, employment, transportation, health insurance, clothing).

• Instrumental assistance to access basic services
  

• Collaborative family problem-solving that facilitates the identification of solutions to family problems (empowerment)
  
• Identify informal systems of community support (e.g., faith centers, support groups)
  

Goal 3:  Crisis Intervention
Goal setting focuses on resolution of immediate stressors or crises

• Work with families to resolve crises
  

• Broker referrals to specialized health of mental health with community providers
  
• Case management