1. Social and Emotional
Competence of Children
The Fab Five: Proven Protective Factors to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect
Knowledge of Parenting
& Child Development
Social Connections
Concrete Support in
Times of Need
Developed for the Office of Child Development and Early Learning by Lynda Martino, Jane Daschbach Becky Leiter, Bryle Zickler, Carmen Gatti,
Dina Stepetic, Judy Flanigan, Linda Kern, Nadine Miller, Rasheeda Coston, Rebecca Gomez, and Marie Stokes.
Based on the Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education initiative developed by the Center for the Study of Social Policy with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Cele McCloskey, Disabilities Manager
Early Head Start/
Head Start of York County
Parental Resilience 1

2. What you’ll learn…
Five protective factors which make parents more likely to have positive experiences and outcomes despite the risk factors they might face
How these factors relate to prevention of child abuse and neglect
How you can help strengthen each of the factors with the families you serve

3. Strengthening Families is a strength-based, protective factors approach which helps build on existing strengths to keep families strong and children safe.
Program is built on two beliefs: All families have strengths and All families need support
Uses ECE programs to reach families and focuses on protective factors that all families need

4. competence of children Knowledge of parenting
Social and emotional
competence of children
5 Protective Factors lead to stronger families – less abuse and neglect
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Social connections
**Note: These are not the only protective factors that keep families strong. They were specially selected for programs to target with families.
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience

5. Parents Child Staff Supervisor
Parallel Process in Relationships Relationships between 2 people influence others around them Parallel process occurs naturally in all relationships Can use it to influence interactions among people and children
Parents Child
Staff Supervisor
Slide and Activity © 2006: PCAN Curriculum - ZERO TO THREE. 5

6. Summarizing the Importance of The Parallel Process:
“Relationships between child care providers and parents can help set the tone for relationships between parents and children. Relationships between child care providers and parents can also make a difference in the relationships between caregivers and children.”

7. competence of children
Social and emotional
competence of children
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Stronger families – Less abuse and neglect
Social connections
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience 7

9. Social emotional issues of young children are
becoming an increasing issue in early care and
education settings. This is crucial to help:
prepare children for school
deal with problems before they get too serious
Promoting children’s social-emotional competence also changes how they are parented.
Taking home new skills which they have learned such as relating to others, expressing their emotions, and solving conflicts affects how their parents react to them. Parents react positively when their child talks about his emotions and know how to resolve conflicts with words.

10. For children who have challenging behaviors: how
we respond to that behavior may affect their
development and how their parents deal with them.
Appropriate adult response to behaviors while in the program helps the child to control his or her behavior.
Role modeling for parents is helpful also (especially role modeling which includes POSITIVE interactions)
Special attention is needed for children with serious social-emotional difficulties, or who have experienced trauma - must help their families get the services they need!

11. Teaching Pyramid Building Positive Relationships
Functional Behavior Assessment
Positive Behavior Support Plan
Children with persistent challenges %
Intensive Individualized Interventions
Intentional Teaching of
Social Skills
and Emotional Regulation
Social Emotional Teaching Strategies
Children at-risk 5-15%
High Quality Early
Care and Education
Designing Supportive Environments
All children
Building Positive Relationships 11

12. How ECE programs promote social-emotional development
Direct teaching of social and emotional skills (PATHS, The Peaceful Classroom)
Helping parents to see positives in their children, despite challenging behaviors
Working with parents, child, and appropriate professionals to address challenging behaviors, rather than kicking children out

13. In the research that was done to develop this initiative, parents reported that the biggest way their early childhood program affected their parenting was through the social emotional skills their children brought home. When children come home talking about their feelings and with new skills, it makes their parents more receptive to the early childhood program and to their child’s experiences.

14. When a child exhibits challenging
behaviors, his parents may internalize
messages that their child is bad,
unlovable or uncontrollable. It is important
to provide adequate supports to help
parents develop coping behaviors and see
positives in their children.

15. (determine the function of the behavior – ABC charts)
Parents need help identifying what their children are achieving through the use of challenging behaviors.
(determine the function of the behavior – ABC charts)
Teachers, parents, and children need to find new ways for children to express needs and have them met
(develop plans to address behavior concerns) 15

16. competence of children
Social and emotional
competence of children
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Stronger families – Less abuse and neglect
Social connections
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience 16

17. Crying babies, challenging children, and children with special needs are at the highest risk of abuse and neglect.

18. Parents need:
Information - to help them understand the reasons behind their child’s behavior
Techniques - to manage behaviors and guide development
Perspective - to put their child’s behavior in the context of overall development (ex: intense infant crying; “terrible two’s”)

19. Parents have teachable moments just like children do – usually when their child has presented them with a new challenge or they are trying to tackle a new task

20. Parents need alternative ways of responding to their children than simply the ones they learned from how they were parented. This is especially true for parents who:
- were abused or neglected as children
- grew up in families that over-relied on physical punishment and spanking

21. Six Stages of Parenthood* Stage One: Image Making
Begins at conception and continues through pregnancy, ending at the time of delivery.
Major tasks for the parents in this stage are accepting the pregnancy, forming images about the baby, and imagining what kind of parents they will be.
*Galinsky The Six Stages of Parenthood - Cambridge, Massachusetts, Perseus Books.

22. Stage Two: Nurturing Birth → 18 months or 2 years
Parents must let go of pre-conceived
images of baby and adjust to reality
Parents also need to recognize how the baby makes them feel - caring for calm, quiet babies is easier than caring for crying, excitable babies
Parents’ reactions to their babies depend upon their own temperaments, their ability to calm themselves, and their expectations of the baby and themselves

23. Stage Three: Authority
Begins gradually as infant learns to
communicate and becomes mobile.
Overlaps the nurturing stage, beginning at about 18 months to 2 years of age and continuing until about years of age
Parents must accept responsibility for family rules and routines and help their toddler manage the frustration he sometimes feels as he wants more independence

24. Stage Four: Interpretive
Includes children 5 years → elementary school years; ends with the beginning of the teen years
Parents must evaluate and revise their ideas of child-rearing and parenting in response to their child’s changing needs. They sometimes have to explain life events to their children and guide the development of their children’s values, attitudes, and beliefs.

25. Stage Five: Interdependent
Encompasses the teenage years
Parents’ major task is to cope with their teenager’s constantly changing needs for closeness and distance

26. Stage Six: Departure
May begin during the child’s teenage years or twenties
Major tasks for parents in this stage are to prepare for the child’s departure and redefine their relationship with the child, who is now an adult.

27. How ECE programs enhance parents’ knowledge of parenting and child development
Providing “just in time” parent education –when issues arise (teachable moments)
Role modeling to support understanding of developmental issues and learning new strategies
Arranging formal parent education events or activities
Developing partnerships with parent education organizations

28. IMPORTANT!
To be effective, parent education must be provided within a context of trust and mutual respect. Parents will be more receptive if they believe that you know their child and you have the child’s best interests in mind.

29. competence of children
Social and emotional
competence of children
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Stronger families – Less abuse and neglect
Social Connections
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience 29

30. Social isolation is strongly connected
to child maltreatment
More young families than ever before are living far away from their extended families and need to develop their own social support networks with friends, co-workers, neighbors, and other parents with children of similar ages.

31. but the quality of the connections.
For preventing child abuse and neglect, it’s not just having social connections,
but the quality of the connections.
Having someone to talk to and vent frustration, especially about parenting challenges
Providing connections that help families access resources – e.g. a friend that will provide babysitting

32. Providing opportunities to see other parents parenting – this allows parents to pick up some good techniques and perhaps also recognize some strategies that don’t work
Encouraging social networks that include positive norms about parenting – having conversations with other parents about the joys of raising children and sharing tips for positive things to do with children

33. How ECE programs help parents develop social connections
Providing informal space for parents to “hang out”
Blending social and parent education activities
Organizing structured activities that bring parents together, including outreach to men
Reaching out and connecting isolated parents to activities at the center

34. Connecting Parents
Be conscious of your efforts to connect parents
Provide a variety of ways both informal and more formal
Build relationships—get to know your parents
Refer parents for services if needed

35. competence of children
Social and emotional
competence of children
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Stronger families – Less abuse and neglect
Social connections
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience 35

36. How ECE programs help families access concrete support
Distributing community resource guides
Inviting community partners to share information with all families in the center
Referring parents to community resources – provide contact info and then follow-up
Helping parents to overcome barriers to getting the services they need

37. competence of children
Social and emotional
competence of children
Knowledge of parenting
& child development
Stronger families – Less abuse and neglect
Social connections
Concrete support in
times of need
Parental resilience 37

38. Make changes for the future Communi-cation skills
Parental Resilience Building Blocks for Resiliency
Gather resources
Take action
Make good choices
Make changes for the future
Recognize challenges
Acknowledge feelings
Problem-solve
Belief system
Coping strategies
Communi-cation skills
Hope 38

39. When parents are resilient, what does it look like
When parents are resilient, what does it look like? Outcomes with parents may appear similar to goals you set for children in your care. Parents will:
respond to stressful situations in productive ways
feel supported and be able to solve problems
develop trusting relationships with others and reach out for help
achieve and demonstrate psychological health

40. How ECE programs build parental resilience
Consistency of caring: Through daily contact, show parents:
They are valued
Staff is concerned about them
Help is available
For some parents, getting to resiliency may require “re-parenting” with extra support and trusting relationships

41. Program strategies to build protective factors
Facilitate friendships and mutual support
Strengthen parenting
Respond to family crises
Link families to services and opportunities
Value and support parents
Facilitate children’s social and emotional development
Observe and respond to early warning signs of child abuse or neglect

42. What your program can do: SMALL but significant changes...
Learn parents’ names and get to know them better
Plan events to engage parents in the center
Implement a social-emotional development curriculum
Make your center more welcoming to parents through physical changes
Get staff training on child abuse and neglect, community resources, and working with families

43. What your program can do: Thinking BIG!
Use the self-assessment to identify areas for improvement
Engage parents in improving how your program reaches out and builds protective factors for families
Build relationships with child welfare agencies and child abuse prevention advocates in your community

44. Self Assessment tool available for free at www. strengtheningfamilies
Self Assessment tool available for free at 44

45. The foundation of all success in strengthening families and building protective factors = RELATIONSHIPS!
Trusting relationships with parents, developed over time
Strong relationship with child protective services agency
Relationships with other agencies and services 45

46. Tools and Resources Strengthening Families National Network
Children’s Trust Fund
Strengthening Families Illinois
CSEFEL
PA Strengthening Families