Families Helping Families
a goal seems natural. Parents frequently claim they rely on friends or family most often when they need parenting information. For professionals, connecting parents to each other offers a fresh approach.
Everyday, Beech Acres Parenting Center connects parents to each other for mutual learning and support. Supporting families in helping other families is one of the ways they try to reach their vision that each parent sees and grows the best in themselves and their children. The parenting center has child, parent and family focused professionals involved in every program, but the peer-to-peer efforts are gaining momentum for the unique way they connect parents to each other and achieve results. We’ll highlight four programs that connect families together here.
For couples and individuals, Beech Acres’ Healthy Marriages and Relationships strengthens existing marriages and prepares non-married couples and individuals for successful, healthy marriages and relationships. Experienced facilitators provide education and enrichment activities that address the challenges facing couples, provide positive relationship models, and teach core skills needed for maintaining a healthy committed relationship. The program connects people together during weekend retreats or group functions so that they can address topics together or within a group in a fun and open environment.
One woman decided to encourage her husband to attend a marriage enrichment class because “I wanted to make my marriage better and show my peers it’s something they should take seriously,” Meyers said. Inspired by the class, the couple decided that they wanted to give back by mentoring others. “We saw the need, just talking to couples in our circle. We didn’t realize so many couples had the same issues until they began opening up,” Meyers said. They began leading marriage enrichment class in their own community as part of Beech Acres’ program.
For parents in Avondale, Bond Hill, Evanston, Roselawn and Walnut Hills neighborhoods of Cincinnati, Beech Acres’ Power in Parenting® is an education and mentoring program designed to strengthen parent’s ability to support the successful development of their children. Each parent in the program is matched with a more experienced parent, called a Parent Partner, who serves as a mentor and coach, linking parents to community resources, and providing them with encouragement. Parent Partners live in the communities where the parents live and have a firsthand understanding of the issues and needs faced by these high-risk families. Robin, a proud Parent Partner, with children ages 23, 19, 13 and 11, says she’s “been there and done that.”
The Parent Partner walks “hand-inhand” with the parent as they work together to remove barriers to the family’s success. “I’m very mindful of the different situations my families are going through,” Parent Partner Robin said. “I was raised by a single parent. I understand the pitfalls and I understand how hard it is.”
The Parent Partner first helps the parent identify goals for herself and her children, and then supports her in reaching them. The program focuses on kindergarten readiness and helping families become self-sufficient. The Parent Partner may help a mom understand the developmental milestones for her children and activities she can do at home to help each child progress. Also if a parent in the program does not have affordable housing or employment, the Parent Partner will assist them in obtaining it. If they need more extensive mental health services, they will be referred to Beech Acres or to other social-service providers in the community. Robin has worked with six families since she began. She added her families are “…so appreciative. That makes me feel good because I work for an agency that’s all about helping parents be responsive. They’re helping raise children who will help our community be so much better.”
This summer, the program added a new component. Parents in the program can now be matched with a volunteer Parent Mentor. The mentor may come from another neighborhood and have different economic or educational backgrounds. The mentors help parents develop the appropriate skills, knowledge and support to overcome barriers to selfsufficiency. Community partners and businesses teach monthly roundtable discussions, education workshops, and other enrichment activities.
In school-based services, the Beech Acres’ Family Peer Support team consists of parents who have firsthand experience in navigating the behavioral health system and is able to connect other families with needed services whose school-age children may be experiencing behavioral difficulties, or who need support in managing services and resources for their child or family. The peer mentor may help with impromptu resource information on questions related to their child’s behavior, may assist by advocating at school IEP meetings or may link families to community resources.
“The goal of the Family Peer Support program is to build parents’ capabilities to strengthen their family, and they are able to do that by engaging with other parents who have walked similar parenting paths in their own lives,” said Jen, Beech Acres team leader.
For foster children, Beech Acres’ Intensive Family Reunification is the newest initiative, facilitating the successful reunification of children back into their homes, by partnering with their families, kin, and communities to build and sustain the relationships and skills the entire family needs to succeed. Last year Beech Acres successfully reunified twelve children with their biological families. This year, they are passionate about reuniting even more children with their families.
A key aspect to the program connects foster parents with birth parents or kin to act as an ongoing support. The foster parents help increase the parent’s life and parenting skills, helps them build a new relationship with their children and helps strengthen their bonds as a family. They also provide respite care for the family if needed. Building this connection with another parent helps support a comprehensive reunification plan that centers on the family as a whole. It formalizes a peer parent relationship so that the parent feels confident she always has another parent she can to talk to about her children.
Beech Acres understands that not all family goals can be achieved by connecting parents together. The parenting center assesses the needs of each individual or family and connects them to the appropriate resource. Many times the connection is made with a professional, but increasingly, it is to another parent.
—The Healthy Marriage and Relationship program is funded by US DHHS, ACF AND GRANT: 90-FE-0100. Beech Acres, in partnership with Together Ohio, the United Way, and private foundations offers the Power in Parenting® program in the Avondale, Bond Hill, Evanston, Roselawn and Walnut Hills neighborhoods of Cincinnati. The Family Peer Support program is made possible through funding from the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, in partnership with Talbert House and Beech Acres Parenting Center. The Intensive Family reunification program is made possible through funding from the Hamilton County Jobs & Family Services.
