The document discusses Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota's Civic Parent Leadership Program which aims to build partnerships between parents and professionals to prevent child abuse and neglect. The program establishes a Parent Leadership Team that advises Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota and provides oversight of local chapters. It also creates a statewide Parent Leadership Team in partnership with the Department of Human Services and Minnesota Children's Trust Fund to develop prevention plans. Quotes from professionals emphasize the importance of meaningful parent partnerships in developing family support policies and programs.

1. Minnesota Parent Engagement to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect Parent and Professional Partnerships Roxy Foster Director of Civic Parent Leadership Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota January 26, 2009

2. Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota Civic Parent Leadership Program Shared Leadership with PCAMN/COP Systemic Change in Partnership with DHS Builds capacity of parents/families and PCAMN/community through co-learning experiences Strengthening Families Through Partnerships of Change Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota Circle of Parents Parent Leadership Team Department of Human Services Children’s Trust Funds Statewide Parent Leadership Team Multicultural Parent Apprenticeship Program Training and Capacity Building

3. Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota Parent Leadership Team Two members on PCAMN Board Of Directors Team Serves as Advisors to PCAMN Technical Assistance and Training to Local Chapters Provides Oversight to Local Chapters (not meeting quality measures) Advises in staff hiring for Circle of Parents Mentorship to National Alliance Parent Partnership Council One member National Circle Of Parents Parents as Leaders Council Minnesota Circle of Parents Parents Leadership Team

4. Partnership with Department of Human Services Minnesota Children’s Trust Fund DHS Divisions of Safety And Permanency, CTF Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota Staff And Parent Advisors Develops Plan Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota Staff Director of Civic Parent Leadership and Coordinator of Parent Leadership Designated staff from DHS Screened and Trained Ten Parent Leaders Recruited, Screened and Trained DHS State Wide Parent Leadership Team Vision, Values, Norms Established Co-learning Experiences Created

5. Quotes from the Field “ For the Alliance, it’s important to partner with parents because without that partnership, the results of our work will suffer. The expertise that is contributed by parents in planning, implementing and evaluating our efforts can’t be provided by any other group” Teresa Rafael, Executive Director, National Alliance of Children’s Trust &Prevention Funds “ Simply put, the meaningful inclusion of parents in family support policy and program development is good business. How else can practitioners, who rarely walk in the same shoes as the families they seek to support, fully grasp the true nature of family needs and devise the most responsive and culturally appropriate strategies to address them? Partnering with parents, valuing their input, creating a shared vision and engaging in decision making with them will produce best practices in service delivery and achieve successful outcomes to prevent the abuse and neglect of children. More importantly, it gives us reason to celebrate the most important goal – parents empowered as leaders of their families, as leaders within their communities and as leaders committed to the well-being of children and families nationwide.” Cynthia Savage CEO Circle of Parents®