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The Trust Fund invests more than half its resources to benefit families with children five years old and younger. Caregivers have a profound influence on children, and effective parenting is key to their safety and well-being. Services that offer positive parenting practices can minimize risk factors, promote healthy child development, improve school readiness, and help families build stronger neighborhoods and communities. Programs that build on the protective factors, attributes that all families need to thrive, are not only cost effective, but can help families find the resources, supports and coping strategies to help them parent successfully.
Family Resource Centers
The Family Resource Center model is one key strategy implemented through the Trust Fund that provides families access to the programs and resources needed to help children grow into healthy and productive members of their communities. All Family Resource Centers share six uniform program design features that research and evaluation associate with effective prevention and positive outcomes for families.
Family Resource Centers:
- Deliver flexible services responsive to community needs;
- Are universally available with no eligibility criteria;
- Provide welcoming and accessible places in the community;
- Offer comprehensive, varied, and integrated services;
- Link families to other local resources; and
- Partner with families and other community services.
Research and evaluation of Family Resource Centers by the UAlbany Center for Human Services Research indicate that families accessing these services show improvement over time in protective factors that are linked to reductions in child abuse and neglect. These improvements in family functioning and resiliency, social support , concrete support , nurturing and attachment , and knowledge of parenting and child development point to a correlation between increasing protective factors within families and a reduced risk of child abuse.
Further information can be found in the following documents:
- New York State Family Resource Center Network brochure
- Guidelines for New York State Family Resource Centers booklet
The Trust Fund further invests in proven parenting and home visiting programs, such as:
- Incredible Years
- Parent-Child Home Program
- Triple P (Positive Parenting Program)
- Nurturing Parenting Program
- Parents as Teachers
The Trust Fund also invests in several programs that address trauma within families affected by domestic violence with services like children’s therapy, empowerment programs, and other support services such as home visits, case management, and links to community services.
The Trust Fund partners with the New York State Parenting Education Partnership, which provides parenting resources that include a searchable database for parenting programs offered statewide.