Washington Council for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Awards $570,000 to Community Programs
The Washington Council for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (WCPCAN) today announced funding awards totaling more than $570,000 to 17 child abuse prevention programs across the state. “These 17 programs selected for funding will offer communities throughout Washington services that research shows work to strengthen family bonds, and assist parents and caregivers in developing positive discipline skills,” says Joan Sharp, Executive Director of WCPCAN.
Seattle, WA (PRWEB) June 3, 2005
The Washington Council for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (WCPCAN) today announced funding awards totaling more than $570,000 to 17 child abuse prevention programs across the state.
“These 17 programs selected for funding will offer communities throughout Washington services that research shows work to strengthen family bonds, and assist parents and caregivers in developing positive discipline skills,” says Joan Sharp, Executive Director of WCPCAN.
The grant awards combine federal and state funds, and are matched by funds provided by local communities.
“These prevention programs create positive change not only in individual families but also in the communities they serve,” Sharp noted. “While they take a variety of approaches to strengthening families and promoting healthy child development, they share success in galvanizing community partners to help meet children’s needs. That’s what community-based child abuse and neglect prevention is all about.”
WCPCAN is the Washington State recipient of federal funds through the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) program. The CBCAP program supports individual state efforts to create and operate statewide networks of community-based, family centered, prevention focused family resource and support programs, which strengthen families and reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect.
Beyond providing funding, WCPCAN also helps programs to measure the impact of the services they are offering and offers other resources aimed at ensuring their long term success.
“Ending child abuse and neglect is a long term proposition,” Sharp says. “We have an investment in these programs being around over the long haul.”
WCPCAN is an office of the Governor established through citizen advocacy in 1982. The programs funded during this grant cycle bring to almost 200 the number funded since that time.
WCPCAN is pleased to recognize the following organizations and projects as recipients of the 2005-2006 grant:
First Year Programs – Grants up to $50,000
Brigid Collins Family Support Center: Integrated Services for Families of Young Children with Developmental Disabilities and Behavioral Emotional Problems
Http://www. brigidcollins. org (http://www. brigidcollins. org)
A parent education and home visiting program targeting families with young children with developmental disabilities and behavioral emotional problems. Program participants will receive Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and home visits. PCIT sessions will use a concrete skill-based approach to teach parents and children new and appropriate ways to relate.
Whatcom County
Central WA Comprehensive Mental Health: Strong Families – Familias Fuertes http://www. cwcmh. org/ (http://www. cwcmh. org/)
Parent education class series for parents and caregivers in early recovery from alcohol or other drugs. Classes focus on empowering families to develop support networks, access community resources and increase healthy interactions with their children. Each 13-session parent education program utilizes the culturally sensitive, interactive curriculum, Strengthening Multiethnic Families and Communities.
Yakima County
ChildrenÂ’s Advocacy Center of Grays Harbor County: Grays Harbor Parent-Child Education Program
A parent education program providing two class series utilizing the Nurturing Parenting Curriculum for families with children aged birth to five. Project outcomes are to teach parents to respond appropriately to the basic needs of their children and to increase their knowledge of the usual steps in their childÂ’s development and how to recognize special needs.
Grays Harbor County
South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency (SPIPA): Intertribal Positive Indian Parenting Program
Http://www. spipa. org (http://www. spipa. org)
Program will provide Positive Indian Parenting to Native American parents from the five tribes served by the SPIPA consortium. Class sessions include elements addressing substance abuse, child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault. Sessions will be offered to each of the five tribes where traditional Native American child rearing practices are introduced as a means to help todayÂ’s Native American parents approach their children in a positive and culturally knowledgeable manner. Mason, Thurston, Lewis, Kitsap, Grays Harbor Counties
Thurston County Public Health and Social Services: Nurse-Family Partnership Home Visiting http://www. co. thurston. wa. us/health/welcome. html (http://www. co. thurston. wa. us/health/welcome. html)
This home visiting program serves low-income, young first time mothers beginning mid-pregnancy and continuing through babyÂ’s second birthday. Nurse home visitors, sometimes with a social worker, will make 50 visits between 60 and 90 minutes during they two and a half years a typical family is enrolled. The curriculum covered includes personal health, environmental health, quality care giving, maternal life development and family support. Thurston County
Young Children and Family Programs of the Palouse (YCFP): Home Based Parent Education http://www. ycfprograms. org/ (http://www. ycfprograms. org/)
Program provides on-going home visiting services to families with young children on a weekly to monthly basis depending on family need and interest. Two formats of service provision: Parents As Teachers (PAT) and High Risk Parent Education (HRPE) will serve families. The goal of this program is to increase parental knowledge of child developmental and non-punitive discipline and guidance skills.
Whitman County
Second Year Programs – Grants up to $35,000
Abused Deaf WomenÂ’s Advocacy Services: Positive Parenting Program
Web: http://www. adwas. org/ (http://www. adwas. org/)
Program will provide four parenting class series, eight workshops on parenting topics, and one-on-one mentoring to deaf parents with children aged birth to five and older. Program is targeted to increase parentsÂ’ responsive social support network.
King, Pierce, Snohomish Counties
Child Care Action Council: A Continuum of Family Support to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect in Ethnic Communities
Http://www. ccacwa. org/ (http://www. ccacwa. org/)
Program will work with communities of color and faith-based organizations to build a continuum of support to prevent child abuse and neglect among ethnic minority families and families in crisis in Thurston County. The program will make use of emergency child care for families in crisis, parent education and support, home visitation and leadership training with the support of community partners and volunteers.
Thurston County
Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Center: Welcome to the Circle
Project will design and develop an innovative, culturally sensitive, child abuse and neglect prevention program to educate parents and adolescents on the importance of attachment, reduce their anxiety about seeking intervention, introduce techniques to increase attachment security through family sessions, and provide a culturally appropriate modification of the Circle of Security protocol. Brief four-six session groups will provide experiential video-based education to low-income families at the MLKJ Center and to teenagers using the YFA Connections Crisis Residential Center.
Spokane County
Parent Trust for WA Children: Strengthening Fragile Families Initiative http://www. parenttrust. org/ (http://www. parenttrust. org/)
This program will utilize home visiting services and ongoing parent support to serve Spanish-speaking Latino families and fathers in Yakima County. This initiative combines three programs designed to increase non-punitive discipline and guidance skills: Intensive Parent Training and Support (ITPS), the Support Group Network and the Family Help Line.
Yakima County
Wonderland Developmental Center: Strong Parents – Strong Families
Http://www. wdcbirthtothree. org/ (http://www. wdcbirthtothree. org/)
An education and support program for families with children aged birth-to-three with disabilities. The program will provide bi-weekly parent-education support groups to increase familiesÂ’ ability to nurture and attach utilizing the Promoting First Relationships curriculum. Parents will learn about their childÂ’s development and needs, positive discipline, communication skills and gain knowledge of resources. Methods include group instruction and discussion, peer parent support, individual parent coaching, videotaping, resource referrals and home visits.
King County
Third Year Programs – Grants up to $20,000
ChildrenÂ’s Home Society of Washington, Northwest Region: The Fathering Project
Http://www. chs-wa. org/2_northwest. htm (http://www. chs-wa. org/2_northwest. htm)
The Fathering Project is a model for father involvement in the center and home based services and family support services of the agency. The program works toward the goal of increasing fathers’ nurturing and attachment behaviors. Employing a model termed “One on One” each staff member develops specifically tailored engagement methods, information and supports designed and implemented to meet the unique needs of men as parents.
King County
ChildrenÂ’s Home Society of Washington, Southeast Region: Parent Aide Program http://www. chs-wa. org/2_southeast. htm (http://www. chs-wa. org/2_southeast. htm)
The Parent-Aide Program is a volunteer parent mentoring program targeting low-income and Hispanic families at high risk of child abuse and neglect in Walla Walla. The long-term outcome is to increase responsive social networks for families. Volunteers provide weekly mentoring support through home visiting services for 30 families including approximately 60 children.
Walla Walla County
Friends of Youth: The PAT (Parents as Teachers) Healthy Start Project
Http://www. friendsofyouth. org/ (http://www. friendsofyouth. org/)
PAT is an empirically founded best practice approach specifically designed to strengthen the social, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, and brain development of the children of young families. Enhanced Healthy Start provides home visiting services utilizing the PAT Born to Learn curriculum to parents age 22 or younger who are parenting their first newborn. Services continue to age three of the child.
King County
Kindering Center/WA State Fathers Network (WSFN): Strengthening Families through Enhanced Father Involvement Project
Http://www. fathersnetwork. org (http://www. fathersnetwork. org)
This project will serve fathers, significant male figures and families raising children with developmental disabilities or long-term health care needs. Project outcomes are to increase the responsive social support network to underserved populations and to increase stress management skills for fathers of children with special needs. Fathers programs will be established in Inner-city Seattle, Wenatchee, Moses Lake/Othello/Colfax/Pullman, Bellingham, Grays Harbor Co. and Tri-Cities
King County
Mary Bridge ChildrenÂ’s Hospital & Health Center: Parenting Partnership Program
Http://www. multicare. org/ (http://www. multicare. org/)
An abuse prevention program designed to meet the unique needs of medically fragile neonates living in socially disenfranchised households. Through three years of weekly home visits, videotaped parent/child interactions and monthly group sessions, parents learn how to provide the consistent, predictable care medically fragile infants require.
Pierce County
Refugee WomenÂ’s Alliance (ReWA): Multicultural Refugee & Immigrant Family Project http://www. rewa. org/ (http://www. rewa. org/)
Project will serve multiethnic, low income refugee and immigrant parents and their children with services focusing on an assets-based approach to provide culturally and linguistically accessible information about non-punitive disciplinary methods, the U. S. education system and community resources. Three six-week workshops will be offered as well as home visits to high-need parents.
King County
About WCPCAN
The Washington Council for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (WCPCAN) was established in 1982 by the Washington State Legislature to serve as a resource to the state of Washington on child abuse and neglect prevention. Its mission is to provide leadership to and a statewide focus on the prevention of child abuse and neglect, and to encourage and support effective community prevention efforts. Prevention programs funded by WCPCAN provide parenting and life skills classes, support groups, services for families with children who have special needs, crisis nursery care, home visitation and referral to community resources. Additional support for these programs is provided through sales of the Washington State Heirloom Birth Certificate, an official birth document signed by the Governor and State Registrar and issued through the Department of Health. More than half of the purchase price benefits the community-based programs that help to prevent child abuse and neglect in Washington. More information about WCPCAN is available at www. wcpcan. wa. gov.
WCPCAN-funded programs are located in and will serve the following counties: Grays Harbor, King, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, Thurston, Walla Walla, Whatcom, Whitman, and Yakima.
A full listing of programs and activities will be available at http://www. wcpcan. wa. gov (http://www. wcpcan. wa. gov).
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