Family Strengthening Services

At CHIP, we believe that parents are the single most important ingredient in health and developmental outcomes for children. We believe that all young children and their families deserve the same opportunities to succeed, regardless of their economic status, household composition or geographic location *.

We also believe that supporting parents through the critical years of their child’s development (from birth to kindergarten-entry) leads to confident parents, self-sufficient families, and healthy, well-adjusted children who are prepared to succeed in school and in life.

Family Strengthening Services include:

• Monthly or bi-monthly home visits that work to promote parental involvement and enhance a family’s ability to move toward self-sufficiency. During home visits, Family Case Managers (FCMs) provide non-judgmental support and utilize educational materials and modeling to enhance family effectiveness and build parenting skills such as: appropriate play, developmentally appropriate activities, home and child safety, and a variety of situation-specific parent mentoring.
• Educational and support services to assist parents in acquiring parenting skills, learning about growth and development, and responding effectively to the behavior of their child(ren).
• Regular developmental assessments and monitoring using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire.
• Assistance with family goal-setting, based on the family’s strengths and resources.
• Follow-up to ensure that necessary services (such as speech or physical therapy, counseling, WIC nutritional support and/or transportation) are received by families and are effective in meeting their needs.
• Community referral services to assist families in obtaining community resources, including health care and mental health care, Medicaid or other insurance, employment resources and other social services.
• Home safety assessments and home safety items.
• Educational and support services to assist parents in acquiring parenting skills, learning about growth and development, and responding effectively to the behavior of their child(ren).

* Parents As Teachers, 2005.