Protective Factors Articles: Family

Strengthening Families Through Early Care & Education. How Are Protective Factors Built in Families? Washington, D.C. Center For The Study of Social Policy 2009. Retrieved on March 9, 2012 from www.CSSP.ORG/www.strengtheningfamilies.net

This article discusses the programs and strategies professionals use to build proctective factors in families and children. "The research behind Strengthening Families identified seven program strategies that exemplary early care and education centers used to build Protective Factors in families." (CSSP) This article explains how each of the strategies work based on the five protective factors. For parental resilence - facilitate friendship and mutual support "programs offer many opportunities for parents to get to know each other, develop mutual support systems and take leadership." (CSSP)
This article also discusses the strategies used to build protective factors in families. "Strategies included sponsoring sports teams, potlucks, classes, camping trips and field trips, advisory groups, board leadership and volunteer opportunities." (CSSP) To strengthen parenting "programs have many ways for parents to get help on parenting issues when they needed it: a class or a support group, opportunities to meet with teachers, family support workers or other staff, home visits or resources from a lending library." (CSSP) In facilitating children's social and emotional development "programs help children build the capacity to articulate their feelings and get along with others, often using a curriculum, such as "Second Step" or "I Can Solve." (CSSP)

I feel that this article would be beneficial to parents because it helps them to understand some of the strategies programs use to build protective factors in families and children. Parents can understand what to expect from the strategies of the program which can help them to be more susceptible to the program.