Florida´s Faith-Based and Community-Based Initiative

Florida´s Faith-Based and Community-Based Initiative has three objectives in the Florida Child Abuse Prevention and Permanency Plan: July 2010 - June 2015. The overall objective is to engage Florida´s faith-based and community-based systems so that they can empower families to prevent child abuse, abandonment and neglect, to promote adoption and to support adoptive families which in turn will create a stronger workforce. The state explored and planned for the implementation of a faith-based and community-based prevention and permanency initiative that would provide for either universal or selected efforts in which the community is engaged to provide family and community supports that would build the Five Protective Factors in Florida´s families.

Explore Adoption

In May of 2008, the State of Florida launched an initiative to promote public adoption; the adoption of foster children who are legally available for adoption. Explore Adoption is a marketing campaign aimed at promoting the benefits of public adoption and urging families to consider creating or expanding their families by adopting a child who is older, has significant special needs, or is part of a sibling group. Every year, about 2,000 children become available for adoption in Florida. This is after a legal process where a court permanently severs ties to their biological parents due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. This past year, 44 percent were adopted by relatives and another 30 percent were adopted by their foster parents. The remaining children, or 26 percent, must be matched with a family previously unknown to them. At any given point in time, there are about 850 children in Florida legally free for adoption who have no identified placement. Each month a new "Kid of the Month" is featured in a video on the front page of this site. The children tell their stories beautifully in their own words and share their dreams of belonging to a family.

• Materials (Includes brochures, one-pager hand outs, adoption facts, frequently asked questions, public service announcements, and more.)
• Faith-Based Partnership Handout (PDF) These one-pagers gives suggestions on how to become an Explore Adoption Faith-Based Partner.
• Community-Based Partnership Handout (PDF) These one-pagers include information on the benefits of public adoption and ways your organization can help.
• Explore Adoption Brochures in English and Spanish These brochures include information on the benefits of public adoption, the road to adoption, if you qualify, how to find out more information, and how to search for an available child.
• Explore Adoption Support Resources This Web site includes links to the Florida Foster and Adoptive Parent Association, the North American Council on Adoptable Children, the Federal Adoption Tax Credit, and more.

Suggestions on ways your faith-based organization can help:

• Email your employees to invite them to sign up to receive the monthly Explore Adoption e-newsletter.
• Hang posters featuring an adoptable child in your buildings, lobbies, cafeterias, lounges, and other areas visible to both employees and the public.
• Host a public adoption orientation meeting for your employees in cooperation with your local community-based care provider.
• If your organization provides a financial stipend or parental leave to employees who adopt, promote awareness of these benefits and refer interested employees to Explore Adoption.
• Make Explore Adoption brochures available to your employees.
• Post a link on your Web page to the Explore Adoption Web site, www.adoptflorida.org, and follow @ExploreAdoption on Twitter.
• Sponsor or provide in-kind and/or monetary donations to extend the reach of Florida´s Explore Adoption initiative.
• Use your internal newsletters, newspapers, magazines or other publications to promote awareness of public adoption by featuring a child or sibling group available for adoption, running an article about the Explore Adoption initiative and/or regularly featuring the Explore Adoption logo, 1-800-96-ADOPT and www.adoptflorida.org.

Heart Galleries

Heart galleries work with local professional photographers to help find homes for specific children by creating compelling personal portraits that capture each child´s unique personality and interests. These portraits are displayed in areas where families most likely to adopt will have a chance to view them. Attached to the portraits are brochures containing brief information on that child with contact information for inquiries. Heart gallery volunteers also work with the children in preparing them for their portraits and their biographies. In addition to the portrait exhibit, each heart gallery provides a Web site with general information on special needs adoption and a photo listing of children in the area who are legally free for adoption. These same portraits can be used on the State of Florida Adoption Exchange and the Explore Adoption Web site.

• Heart Galleries by local area. This link on the Explore Adoption website will take you to each of the fifteen Heart Galleries in Florida. From this site you can view children available for adoption in your area as well as across the state.

Suggestions on ways your faith-based organization can help:

• Encourage members to volunteer with your local Heart Gallery.
• Host your local Heart Gallery´s Exhibit in your building, gallery, lobby, or office.
• Invite your local Heart Gallery to speak to your membership at an informational meeting.
• Sponsor an event promoting your local Heart Gallery.

Strengthening and Supporting Families

The Strengthening Families approach effectively shifts the focus of child abuse and neglect prevention efforts from family risks and deficits to family strengths and resiliency. By strengthening families and empowering communities a stable workforce will be built. This will also help parents raise a new generation; ready, willing and able to be productive and dependable employees.

Research conducted by the Center for the Study of Social Policy suggests that operating out of a program that parents already utilize is the best approach because it allows parents to obtain help in a non-stigmatizing setting. They found that parents are reluctant to participate in programs that label them as "at risk". Also, parents are more likely to be receptive of advice or help if it comes from someone with whom they are familiar. Other partners, working with many different populations in a variety of settings, are exploring ways to apply this approach. Through the Florida Child Abuse Prevention and Permanency Plan: July 2010 - June 2015 Florida will infuse the Five Protective Factors into a variety of systems and settings that work with children and their families.

• The Five Protective Factors have been demonstrated to work and are informed by extensive, rigorous research.
• Activities that build the Five Protective Factors can be built into programs and systems that already exist in every state, such as early childhood education and child welfare, at little cost.

The Five Protective Factors are:

1. Nurturing and Attachment - A child´s ability to interact positively with others, to self-regulate, and to effectively communicate his or her emotions has a great impact on the parent-child relationship. A child´s social and emotional development is highly dependent on the quality of a young child´s primary relationships. How caregivers respond to children´s emotional expression profoundly influences how they learn to process, understand, and cope with such feelings as anger, happiness, and sadness. Promoting positive behavior and responses in children could strengthen parent-child relationships.

There are various ways faith-based and community-based organizations can promote parental nurturing and attachment. Some examples of activities include:

• Sponsor workshops for parents and caregivers on playing with infants, young children and youth.
• Sponsor activities for families that promote positive parent and child interactions.
• Recognize local organizations that have family-friendly policies, such as flexible work schedules, paid maternity/adoption leave, and paid sick leave, that gives parents time to bond with or care for their children.

2. Knowledge of Parenting and of Child and Youth Development - Extensive research links healthy child development to effective parenting. Children thrive when parents provide not only affection, but also respectful communication and listening, consistent rules and expectations, and safe opportunities that promote independence. Successful parenting fosters psychological adjustment, helps children succeed in school, encourages curiosity about the world, and motivates children to achieve.

Examples of how faith-based and community-based organizations can enhance knowledge of parenting and of child and youth development:

• Supply local pediatricians with reproducible factsheets about child development or adoption (children who have experienced trauma) that can be given to parents during well-child exams.
• Sponsor classes and support programs for new parents and adoptive parents.
• Offer trainings for childcare providers, teachers and others about the key aspects of child development and the relationship between effective parenting and brain development.
• Offer trainings on trauma informed care for adoptive children.
• Disseminate information to the community about normal crying and activity levels of children at different ages to increase understanding and help reduce pressures on parents.

3. Parental Resilience - Parents who can cope with the stresses of everyday life, as well an occasional crisis, have resilience; they have the flexibility and inner strength necessary to bounce back when things are not going well. Multiple life stressors, such as a family history of abuse or neglect, health problems, marital conflict, or domestic or community violence-and financial stressors such as unemployment, poverty, and homelessness-may reduce a parent´s capacity to cope effectively with the typical day-to-day stresses of raising children.

Examples of how faith-based and community-based organizations can strengthen parental resilience:

• Explore how local faith communities organize members to support new parents or other families under stress including adoptive families. Share effective models with other groups.
• Offer free or low-cost stress management classes at local community centers, adoption agencies, businesses, or schools.
• Sponsor communication and conflict resolution classes for couples including adoptive parents.
• Provide brochures and other resources for teachers, adoption case-workers, and child care providers to share with parents who are under significant stress.

4. Social Connections - Parents with a social network of emotionally supportive friends, family, and neighbors often find that it is easier to care for their children and themselves. Most parents need people they can call on once in a while when they need a sympathetic listener, advice, or concrete support. Research has shown that parents, who are isolated, with few social connections, are at higher risk for child abuse and neglect.

Activities faith-based and community-based organizations can provide to help build social connections include:

• Sponsor multigenerational activities like picnics and street fairs that reflect the community´s culture through music, food, and games. Sponsor adoption events that promote or celebrate adoption and adoptive families (e.g. Heart Galleries, Explore Adoption materials, and annual adoption celebration or finalization ceremony events). Engage parents in organizing these events.
• Recruit volunteers for mentoring programs such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, Befriend-a-Child, Family to Family. Create a mentoring program for adoptive families.
• Provide safe, accessible venues for families to meet and socialize. For instance, invite an adoptive parent support group to meet monthly in your facility.

5. Concrete Supports for Parents - Partnering with parents to identify and access resources in the community may help prevent the stress that sometimes precipitates child maltreatment. Providing concrete supports may also help prevent the unintended neglect that sometimes occurs when parents are unable to provide for their children.

Examples of activities faith-based and community-based organizations can help ensure adequate concrete supports for families include:

• Provide a community network for families needing services, to ensure they do not fall through the cracks.
• Make information available about accessing community resources (e.g. housing, health care, employment assistance, post-adoption counselors, Florida´s Parent Helpline, food banks and Angel Food sites) readily available no matter where families initially turn for services and support.
• Educate faith and community leaders about issues in your community and the need for services and programs that support healthy and safe children and families.
• Encourage faith-based and community-based organizations to collaborate, leverage funding, and share resources to address specific needs of families.

Food for thought: Are there other ways that you can promote the protective factors (just one, a couple, or all five) in your organization? Is your faith-based or community-based organization already doing these?

If you would you like others in your community to know about how your organization is promoting and supporting the Five Protective Factors please contact your Local Planning Team Convener.

If you would like training or assistance for implementing the Five Protective Factors please fill out the Training and Technical Assistance Form.