The March of Dimes has launched a new web-based, interactive educational tool for parents, "Understanding your Newborn." This online resource provides information about how newborns signal their parents about their feelings and needs. Topics are covered in six different modules: States of Awareness, Infant Sleep, Senses, Reflexes and Movements, Crying and Playing/Break Time. To view the new website, go to: www.marchofdimes.com/prematurity/1808.asp.

Parent Empowerment Program 2 for Young Mothers

A unique program in the Bronx, New York, combines parenting education, social support, and mental health services to strengthen the parenting skills of young mothers at risk for child maltreatment. Teen and young adult mothers and mothers-to-be are referred by the New York City Administration for Children's Services, Montefiore Medical Center clinics and other community and social services agencies to the Parent Empowerment Program 2 (PEP 2), where they receive weekly parenting classes and individual and family therapy. The classes last for 6 months, providing opportunities for the participants to bond with each other and the staff. PEP 2 staff meet one-on-one with mothers to help them set personal goals and create a plan of individualized services, referrals and follow-up. Evaluation of PEP 2 is currently in process involving a comparison group. For more information about this program, contact Karel Amaranth at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore at: (718) 920-5833 or email her at: kamarant@montefiore.org.

Social Support

The new issue of Focal Point examines how social support can be harnessed to promote mental health and thriving for children and families. Articles in this issue define and recommend various methods of increasing the social support available from families, mentors, peers, and community members. Types of support examined include family-to-family support, peer support and natural support. To download the entire issue or read individual articles on this subject, go to: www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgFPW06TOC.php.

Developing the Incredible Years - Webster-Stratton Parenting Skills Training Program for use with Adoptive Families

This article from the British Association for Adoption and Fostering reports on the development of an adoption-specific parenting skills program that took as its starting point the widely used Incredible Years package by Carolyn Webster-Stratton. Four courses of the BASIC Incredible Years program were run at Coram Family for adoptive parents. The value of combining proven behavioral management strategies with consideration of the specific challenges facing adoptive parents is highlighted in this article. For more information, go to: http://www.baaf.org.uk/. 


Priority Topic: Home Visiting & 0-3 Services                              

Children at Risk: Consequences for School Readiness and Beyond
Parents, policymakers, business leaders, and the general public increasingly recognize the importance of the first few years in the life of a child for promoting health physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development. Yet many children face deficiencies in the years leading up to school entry in terms of emotional support, intellectual stimulation, or access to resources due to being low-income or other factors that can impede their ability to develop to their fullest potential. As part of a recent study to examine the role of early childhood interventions, RAND researchers identified what is known from the research literature about the number of children at risk for school failure and the consequences for their performance in school and subsequent life outcomes in the RAND Labor and Population study they recently concluded. For more information, go to: www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9144/index1.html.

Evaluation of Home Visitation Programs for New Parents Shows Promising Results

A comprehensive evaluation of Cuyahoga County, Ohio's Early Childhood Initiative examines two home visitation programs - Welcome Home, a one-time visit for all first time and teen mothers, and Early Start, an extended program for parents in need of ongoing assistance. The study reveals a number of encouraging trends, but also suggests that new thinking may be needed in how the program is structured. To read this evaluation by Deborah Daro, Eboni Howard, Jennifer Tobin, and Allen Harden, go to: www.chapinhall.org/article_abstract.aspx?ar=1365.

Pathways to Early School Success: Helping the Most Vulnerable Infants, Toddlers, and their Families

As anyone working with kids knows, even babies and toddlers can suffer from stress. These very young children are especially vulnerable to the effects of high or consistent stress, which can impede healthy development and school readiness. In this new report, the National Center for Children in Poverty looks at how communities across the country are effectively identifying and supporting very young children and their families - even in the face of budget cuts and staff overwork. The report offers 10 strategies for intervention, including connecting various agencies and organizations, offering multiple entry points, and targeting important moments and transitions in families lives. To read the full report, go to: http://nccp.org/pub_pew06e.html. 

 

Priority Topic: Fatherhood                                                         

Sustaining and Growing Father Involvement for Low-Income Children

Dads make a significant difference in their children's lives, yet half of poor children do not live with their fathers. While about 25 percent of kids (of all incomes) see their non-residential fathers each week, one in three has no contact with live-away dads. These fathers often face barriers to getting and staying involved in their children's lives, and providing important emotional and financial support. This policy brief looks at effective father-involvement programs. It calls for policies that address disadvantaged fathers' needs for employment services and other supports, which can be done with existing federal funds. For more information, go to:  www.nassembly.org/fspc/practice/documents/fathersbrief.pdf.

Increasing Alaskan Native Fathers' Positive Involvement

Native Alaskan fathers involved with the child welfare system in Anchorage have been able to strengthen their relationships with their children and improve their parenting skills as a result a program developed by the Cook Inlet Tribal Council. Based on interviews with Native Alaskan fathers who identified parenting needs, CITC staff developed the Healthy Homes Father Involvement Enhancement Project. The project includes: a culturally relevant 10-week parenting course; a peer support group for single fathers; a 12-week anger management course; services that include information, referral and transportation; home-based case management services; advocacy by staff on behalf of the fathers; and collaboration with other agencies. For more information on this program, contact Sylvia Berg at (907) 793-3600 or click here.

Priority Topic: Health & Mental Health                                       

Child Abuse and Neglect: A Guide for Medical Professionals

Designed for medical professionals in Ohio, this book addresses the most frequent child abuse and neglect issues confronting the medical and health professionals. It begins by providing an overview of child abuse and neglect, discussing myths about sexual abuse, and providing legal definitions of child abuse and neglect. Section 2 focuses on identifying child abuse and neglect and includes information for identifying the abusers and recognizing physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional maltreatment, and neglect. Strategies for distinguishing abusive injuries from accidents are also provided. Section 3 reviews the legal obligation of medical professionals to report child abuse and neglect, specific information that should be reported, confidentiality requirements, and who to contact to report. Professionals are also advised on what to do if a child discloses abuse and what happens when abuse or neglect is reported. For more information, go to: http://www.odjfs.state.oh.us/forms/pdf/01495.pdf.
 

Priority Topic: Management and Organizational Issues             

Ethics...Three Roads: Which is the right one?

From The Nonprofit Times, 1-30-06

Which way to go? Nonprofit managers may find themselves at a crossroads when facing practical problems of day-to-day operation while striving to adhere to the highest ideals of philanthropy. In their book The Ethics Challenge in Public Service, Carol W. Lewis and Stuart C. Gilman offer three routes that they say are open to nonprofit managers, and they offer their views on choosing the best one. The routes encourage different behavior, make use of different vehicles, promote different purposes and lead in different directions. According to Lewis and Gilman, the three routes are: The "Low Road" of compliance. A largely proscriptive, coercive, punitive and even threatening route, this approach to ethics is designed to spur obedience to minimum standards and legal prohibitions. It is enforced by controls that ordinarily aim at acceptable levels of risk, not flawless purity; The "High Road" of integrity. This is ethics in the raw. Relying on moral character, this route counts on ethical managers individually to reflect, decide and act. It is a basic value, not limited to public service by any means. It draws on appropriate values and principles, absorbed from upbringing or philosophy; The "Fusion" Road. The two previous roads mistakenly reduce the world to two distinct categories - ethical and unethical - whereas managers actually cope in the gray areas of legitimate but competing values, principles and responsibilities. Neither approach alone reaches the goal. For more information on this book or to order the book, go to: http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787967564.html.

E-Newsletter for Nonprofit Board Members

Do you know about Board Café, an e-newsletter for nonprofit boards? Published by CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, the monthly publication is delivered to subscribers via email. Archived articles from over 60 issues are also available online, with titles like "How Much to Pay Your Executive Director," "What to Do When You Really, Really Disagree with a Board Decision," and "The Board Should Raise Money: True or False?" For more information or to subscribe, go to: http://www4.compasspoint.org/p.asp?webpage_id=652.

How to Kill Off Your Multi-Donors

This article is from the Nonprofit Times and written by Herschell Gordon Lewis. Oh, how easy it is to ignore the multitude of insidious forces that build and reinforce donor cynicism. No, the circumstance isn't our fault. We're guiltless and blameless. But also, yes, it is our fault for not recognizing how competing nonprofit organizations, not as psychology-savvy as we, have torn holes in the fabric of emotional acceptance. I'm being wry. Like you, I'm both the originator of a great many fundraising messages and the recipient of a great many more. And the Barnum-like effect of so many appeals no longer is a surprise. It's just an ongoing irritant. To read the full article, go to: www.nptimes.com/enews/Feb06/news-0227_2.html.