This document defines key terms and describes various family support programs and services. It discusses programs that provide services like parent support groups, early developmental screening, parent education, childcare, home visiting, family resource centers, school-linked services, outreach, and job/education support. The goal of these programs is to strengthen families and parenting skills to promote child welfare and development. Research shows family support services can be effective in preventing issues like child abuse and neglect.

1. Individualized
Family Support
Program

2. Definitions
 “Comprehensive family support” means
the array of services and supports that
assist families who are caring for a family
member with a disability.

3.  Services and supports include programs,
 services,
 parent-to-parent support,
 assertive devices,
 and various adaptations that allow children
with disabilities to participate more fully in
family and community life

4.  “Family” means a group of
interdependent persons living in the
same household. A family may consist
of an individual with a disability and any
of the following:
 1. The individual’s parent.
 2. The individual’s sibling.
 3. The individual’s grandparent, aunt, or
uncle.
 4. The individual’s legal custodian.
 “Family” does not include a person who
is employed to provide services to an
individual with a disability in an out-of-
home setting, including hospital,
nursing facility, personal care home,
board and care home,

5.  “Individual with a disability”
means a person who meets the
definition of disability.
 “Disability”
The result of any physical or mental
condition that affects or prevents one's
ability to develop, achieve, and/or
function in an educational setting at a
normal rate

6. “Services and support”
 “Services and support” means
services or other assistance
intended to enable an individual
with a disability to control the
individual’s environment, to
remain living with the individual’s
family, to function more
independently, and to integrate
into the individual’s community.

7. Introduction to Individualized
Family Support Program
 In our society, families serve as
the main vehicle for children to
participate in the community.
Families play a critical role in the
socialization of children in regards
to leisure skills development,
recreation and participation in
community life. Families with a
child who has a disability often
need support to enhance the
participation and community
integration of their child.

8. Family support programs
 Family support programs provide an array
of services to support and empower families
with children and adolescents having
disabilities and serious emotional problems.
 The goal of family support is to reduce
family stress and enhance each family's
ability to care for their child. To do this,
family support programs operate on the
principles of individualized care, and
recognizing every child and family is unique
in their strengths and needs.

9.  Connecting family members to
other families with children with
serious emotional problems helps
families to feel less isolated and
identify their own strengths.
 Family workers at the Families
First Support Center provide one-
on-one support to families who
are under stress or facing
challenges such as having a first
child, teen parenthood, or a child
with a chronic illness.

10.  Services include but are not limited
to education and information,
individual support, family support
groups, and family recreation
events.

11.  Program include following things :
 Family support Services
  Planning & implementing family support
programs.
 Parent support groups
 Early developmental screening
 Parent education
 Early childhood development
 Childcare & respite care services
 Home visiting
 Family resource centers

12. 
 School-linked services
 Referral & linkage to resources
 Outreach
  Education & job skill development
 Specialized services for young parents
 Specialized services for kinship caregivers
 State and local examples
 Effectiveness of family support services

13. Family support services:
 Family support services are
community-based services that
assist and support parents in their
role as caregivers.
 Family support services promote
parental competency and healthy
child development by helping
parents enhance their strengths and
resolve problems that can lead to
child maltreatment, developmental
delays, and family disruption.

14. Services:
 Services include:
  Peer support and counseling
  Early developmental screening
  Parent education
  Early childhood development
  Childcare
  Home visits
  Family resource centers
  School-linked services
  Recreation
  Job or skills
  Education or Training

15.  Programs may address the general
population or target particular groups such
as ethnic/cultural minorities, adolescent
parents, kinship caregivers, or families
facing health, mental health, or substance
abuse issues.

16. Planning & Implementing
Family Support Programs
 Information and descriptions of efforts to
plan and implement family support
programs include types of services
provided, policies and procedures,
mission statements, vision statements,
agreements, intake forms, assessments,
checklists, permission forms, service
plans, and details about funding streams
and the programs supported.

17. Parent Support Groups
 Parent support groups help parents
overcome feelings of isolation, develop
support systems, and learn about
successful parenting practices. Parent
support groups foster self-acceptance and
promote a sense of community

18. Early Developmental Screening
 Children with disabilities are at high risk
for abuse and neglect and are more
likely to experience maltreatment than
children without disabilities.
Developmental screening is a procedure
designed to identify children who should
receive more intensive assessment or
diagnosis for potential developmental
delays.

19.  Screening results in earlier detection of
delays and improved health and well-
being for identified children.
 When delays are detected, parents can
be provided with information about what
to expect in their child’s development,
how they can promote development,
and the benefits of monitoring
development.
 Such guidance promotes positive
parent-child relationships, reducing the
occurrence of child abuse and neglect.

20. Parent Education
 Parent education programs are
community-based services that support
parents in their roles as caregivers.
 Their goal is to promote parental
competency and strengthen family life, to
enhance healthy child and family
development.
 Parent educators help parents
strengthen their skills and knowledge of
child development, prepare young
children for school, and cope with
behavioral challenges of children and
adolescents. Over time, these programs
may help prevent child maltreatment,
reduce developmental delays, and
enhance parent effectiveness.

21. Parent Education Programs
 Parent education programs focus
on decreasing parenting practices
and behaviors associated with
child abuse and neglect.
 Participating parents develop and
practice positive discipline
techniques, learn age-appropriate
child development skills, and
receive support in increasing
positive play and interaction with
their children.

22.  The following programs have been
useful in
 supporting parents
and
 strengthening parenting skills

23. Early Childhood Development
 Early childhood programs support families
by offering activities that enhance parents'
protective characteristics.
 Typically, programs assess family needs,
link families to community resources,
provide counseling and parent education,
respond to crises, and engage parents in
leadership

24.  The strategies are designed to alleviate
stress, strengthen parent-child relationships,
decrease feelings of social isolation, and
make families more comfortable with
receiving services.
 Early intervention services can range from
specialized assistance for children at risk to
parenting classes for the general public.

25. Childcare & Respite Care
Services
 Quality childcare services enhance child
development and provide support for
all parents, including those at risk of
abusive behavior.
 Such services may provide counseling,
parent education, positive role
modeling, emergency respite, and
referrals to community services.
 Childcare providers are increasingly
considered sources of family support
beyond the direct care of children.

26. Home Visiting
 Home visiting programs support positive
parent-child relationships, promote optimal
child health and development, enhance
parental self-sufficiency, and prevent child
abuse and neglect.
 They focus on the importance of children's
early years and on the role parents play in
child development.

27.  By bringing services to families with young
children, rather than expecting them to seek
assistance in their communities, home
visitors see the environments in which
families live, gain a better understanding of
families' needs, and tailor services to meet
those needs. Home visiting can reduce
loneliness and isolation and serve as the first
step in linking families to communities

28. Effectiveness of Home Visiting
 Although home visiting services were not
always a formal part of family support efforts,
they have become a popular method of
delivering preventive and family support
services.
 The increased interest among policymakers in
home visiting as a means of reaching children
and families early has sparked a number of
efforts to measure its effectiveness

30. Family Resource Centers
 Family resource centers provide family
support services by creating a central
location for health, mental health,
educational, and recreational services.
 As one-stop service and referral
organizations, family resource centers are
designed to control service duplication and
encourage community involvement and
cross-generational relationships.

31.  Family resource centers promote
community connections that empower
families and enhance the lives of young
children. Most centers provide core
services such as medical care, counseling,
parenting classes, and literacy classes;
 referrals for childcare and specialty
medical services; and direct contact with
early childhood and child development
programs, including Head Start and home
visitation.

32. School-Linked Services
 School-linked family support services
are characterized by a holistic,
ecological view that recognizes that
children need a full range of services
to be ready to learn and be successful
in school, and that parents need
assistance to support their child's
education, health, growth, and
development

33.  Communities are improving service
integration and accessibility by offering a
wide array of services within the school or
other neighborhood center.
 Service providers emphasize prevention of
behavioral, emotional, academic, and
social problems, including child abuse and
neglect, juvenile delinquency, and family
violence.

35. Effectiveness of School-Linked
Services
 School-linked services provide easy
access for children, youth, and
families to information, support, and
other services.

36. Referral & Linkage to
Resources
 Families need assistance in identifying and
accessing resources to meet basic needs and in
securing community-based family support services.
 Child welfare and family resource and support
organizations can work together to improve
outcomes for families by referring child welfare
clients to family resource programs and providing
linkages between programs that serve the same
clients.
 Program developers must think strategically about
how an existing array of services might be
augmented to form a continuum of supports and
services for families

37. Outreach
 The goal of outreach in family support
services is to reach families who might not
otherwise participate in a family support
program, obtain their involvement, and
foster their participation in the community.
 The success of outreach efforts depends on
the program providers' ability to form
community partnerships; target, educate,
and engage families who can benefit from
their services; and meet the needs and
interests of these families in ways which
will prove beneficial to them, their
children, and the community

38. Education & Job Skill
Development
 The cycle of poverty can have a long-term
effect on children, contributing to and
exacerbating child maltreatment, mental
illness, substance abuse, homelessness, and
other problems that create barriers to
obtaining and maintaining employment as
an adult

39.  Education and job programs aimed at
enhancing family economic success
require workforce development, family
economic supports, and community
investment. An integrated system of
social services and welfare services can
help decision-makers identify the
services needed to help families meet
employment and income goals.

40. Specialized Services for Young
Parents
 Adolescent parenting is associated with
maternal and infant health problems,
poverty, lack of education, inadequate
family support, and increased risk for
domestic violence and child abuse and
neglect.
 Benefits of social support services for
young parents include improved
knowledge about parenting, enhanced
parent-child relationships, increased
economic self-sufficiency, and reduction
in family violence.

41.  Effective programs are
systematically planned, offer a
comprehensive selection of
services, address child
development and health-care
needs, are customized to the
parent's developmental level,
involve extended family members,
and promote intergenerational
relationships.

42. Specialized Services for
Kinship Caregivers
 Family support services for kinship
caregivers must take into account that kin
are likely to be single, older, in poorer
health, and financially less secure than
nonrelative caregivers, while children in
their care are generally younger and often
need special services.

43.  These families generally receive few
economic supports and are less likely to be
aware of services available to them once a
child is placed in their care.
 In addition, they may not have support
from extended family, peers, or the
community in general

44.  Commonly needed supports include
financial assistance, childcare, respite,
medical care, and training in parenting
skills.
 Family mediation or counseling is also
often needed to assist caregivers and
birth parents in resolving conflicts,
easing the difficulties of parenting a
relative's child, and achieving a
permanent plan for the child.

45. Effectiveness of Support
Services for Kinship Families
 While the practice of kin parenting
children when their parents cannot is a
time-honored tradition in most
cultures, the formal use of kinship care
in child welfare has been much more
recent.
 Increasingly, agencies are recognizing
the importance of providing support
and information to kinship caregivers
to better ensure the safety,
permanency, and well-being of children
in care.

46. State and Local Examples:
Family Support Services
 Family-focused, community-based
interventions prevent child abuse
and neglect, offer assistance to
families, provide early support for
parents, promote the development
of parenting skills, increase family
stability, and improve family access
to community resources.

47. Effectiveness of Family Support
Services
 Family support services are intended to
strengthen families, improve parenting
skills, promote child development, and
enhance parental confidence.
 Methods include home visitation, child
development assessment, parenting skills
education, homemaker services, and social
and emotional support services.

48.  Research on the effectiveness of family
support services has examined the
comparative effectiveness of different
program models and the extent to which
programs improve outcomes, including
preventing maltreatment, decreasing the
use of foster care, enhancing placement
stability, and reunifying families.