Circle of Parents

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• Circle of Parents
• Partners for Kids United Hands Make the Best
  Families
• National Child Abuse and Neglect Conference
• Atlanta, Georgia
• April, 2009

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Circle of Parents Working Together

• It is a WAY OF WORKING that BUILDS the WILL of
  the community to work together to bring about a
  desired result.
• The QUALITY of engagement reflects the QUALITY of
  our decisions and ultimately the QUALITY of our
  outcomes.
• HOW we decide is as important as WHAT we decide.

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Todays Plan

• Identify the principles of parent support, shared
  leadership collaborative culture
• Identify how those principles have been
  implemented to build a multi-level,
  multi-disciplinary system to serve families more
  comprehensively
• Steps, Challenges Tips

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Circle of Parents

• Introductory Exercise
• Get Up Move
• Introduce yourself to at least 3 people you dont
  know
• Greet the Person - ? Im glad youre here
  today!
• Name
• What you do
• Agency/Program
• City, State
• Whats your experience been working with teams,
  partners, collaborations

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Circle of Parents

• National Network 26 state/regions, 12 National
  Parent Leaders 5 National staff Board of
  Directors
• Mission Prevent child abuse and neglect and
  strengthen families through mutual self-help
  parent support groups.

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Circle of Parents

• Diversity The Art of Thinking Independently
  Together Malcolm S. Forbes
• PCAA Chapters, Private Non-Profits Public
  Agencies
• Mission Statements
• Staff Structure
• Organization/Agency Structure
• Funding Streams
• State Partners HV, DV, Fatherhood
• Political Climate
• States Geography
• Families

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Mission Statements

• IL to give children help, hope, and
  opportunity
• NH advancing the well-being of children by
  providing an array of social services to
  strengthen family life and by promoting community
  commitment to the needs of children
• TN preventing CA/N of TNs children by working
  with other organizations individuals to
  development programs, services resources for
  the prevention of CA/N.
• Perhaps the most necessary key to the achievement
  of community is the appreciation of differences.
  Scott Peck

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Circle of Parents

• MOUs, Membership Fees, BPSA
• Standards, core tenets, principles
• Standing Committees
• Systems for free flow of information
• Continuous Feedback/consensus building
• Participatory Training, Materials Evaluation
  design implementation

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PRINCIPLES

• Parent Support Groups
• Shared Leadership
• Collaborative Culture

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Principles Parent Support Groups

• Trust
• Reciprocity
• Leadership Personal Accountability
• Respect
• Parenting in the Present
• Shared Leadership
• Responsibility
• Non-Violence

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Principles Shared Leadership

• Parents/Practitioners are equals
• No one has all the answers
• Mutual respect, trust open-mindedness
• Collective action based upon shared values,
  ownership accountability
• Consensus building

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Principles Collaborative Culture

• Commitment to the success of other members,
  rather than just ones own
• Valuing of truth and truth telling
• Commitment to continuous improvement of the whole
  group/org.
• Active learning
• Personal responsibility

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Principles-Collaborative Culture

• Trust respect in everyday interactions
• Egalitarian attitudes among members at all ranks
• Shared leadership where all members take
  initiative
• Valuing of diverse perspectives
• Celebrate successes

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CHALLENGES to keeping our Collaborative Culture

• Job Responsibilities
• Monitoring our feedback/consensus process
• Care Feeding of the Network Members
• Meeting Times Coordinating Time Zones
• Unfamiliar w/Language, protocols, system
• Phone, not face to face
• Might not feel safe
• Uncomfortable/untrained w/teleconference calls
• Sharing Leadership where are the parents?
• New Network staff States (mentor)
• Develop relationship
• Getting them to take a risk

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Conducive Skills Behaviors

• Patience Persistence
• Shows a win-win state of mind Shares knowledge,
  resources common goal
• Willingness to set aside personal or
  organizational agenda
• Willingness to take risks
• Effective group facilitation skills
• Continuous feedback/consensus building

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Conducive Skills Behaviors

• Being accountable for ones own actions
  responsible to the group
• Coaching nurturing the development of others
• Perseverance when facing difficult issues
• Living with and being accountable for the
  outcome
• Celebrating success

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Creating a Collaborative Culture

• National Circle of Parents Office
• State Network Members (Group-based)
• Local Home Visiting Services
• Fatherhood
• Domestic Violence

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HV PROGRAMS

• Healthy Families America
• Parents as Teachers
• Nurse/Family Partnership
• Healthy Start
• Early Head Start

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• Partners for Kids
• United Hands Make the Best Families
• Responsible Fatherhood Project
• Funding for this project was provided by the US
  Dept. of HHS, ACYF, OFA, Grant No. 90FR0098,
  CFDA 93.086
• Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Community
  Access Program

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PROJECT GOAL

• To increase the capacity of local community
  and/or faith-based home visiting programs to
  provide education and support groups that promote
  responsible parenting among expectant and new
  fathers of babies up to age 12 months.

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OBJECTIVES

• Prepare local, community-based HV programs to
  successfully engage help fathers become
  responsible parents
• Prepare expectant new fathers to be involved in
  the healthy development of their children

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PROJECT OUTCOMES

• Organizations will become more FF by increasing
  the of fathers involved
• Increase father-child quality interaction
• Increase fathers knowledge of child dev
• Increase fathers knowledge of community
  resources
• Improve in fathers role as a family provider and
  partner with the mother of the child

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FF Organization/Program

• Domains Measured for Local Programs
• Leadership and organizational philosophy
• Program management/program policies and
  procedures
• Parent involvement program/service content
• Recruitment and retention strategies for fathers
• Program physical environment
• Staff training and development
• Resource networking and community outreach

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Father Involvement

• Domains Measured
• Parenting/Parent-Child Relationship
• Father-Mother Relationship
• Self-Management Skills
• Community Resources

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Multi-Tiered Approach
Local community faith-based orgs Establish
Partner for Kids programs Each serve 50 dads/year
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Project Guidance

• Natl Fatherhood Advisory Committee
• Network Committees
• National Grant Review Panel
• Consultants
• Federal Project Officer

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MULTI-PARTNERSHPS

• Home Visiting Programs
• Parent Trust for Washington Children
• National Fatherhood Initiative
• Domestic Violence Consultant
• Prevent Child Abuse America
• Network States Parents as Leaders

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ROLES EXPECTATIONS

• Multi-Level Process
• National
• State
• Local

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NATIONAL

• Provide grant oversight
• Issue Award RFPs yearly 5 years
• Provide T TA Resources
• Conduct Site Visits
• Direct Evaluation Efforts
• Coordinate an Advisory Committee
• Utilize Consultants NFI - DV

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STATE MEMBERS

• Support implementation in 2 local sites
• Provide training in support group model
• Provide ongoing T/TA Networking
• Provide materials
• Site visit
• Work with local sites on sustainability
• Coordinate FF state training
• Partner with DV Consultant
• Promote advocate for fatherhood

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LOCAL HV PROGRAMS

• Provide education support services for 50
  expectant and new dads
• Complete FF Check-up Assessment
• Create Plan for Becoming More FF
• Offer Conscious Fathering classes
• Offer Circle of Parents groups for dads
• DV Partner/Create DV Protocols
• Seek resources to sustain fatherhood
• Participate in evaluation submit reports

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EVALUATION PROCESS

• National level
• - Training TA Call Evaluation Forms
• State level
• - Self-Assessment (pre/post)- FF Check-up
  worksheet
• Program/site level
• - Self-Assessment (pre/post)- FF Check-up
  worksheet
• - Satisfaction (staff focus groups)
• Participant Level
• - Retrospective post-then-pre surveys
• - Conscious Fathering Dads Groups
• Satisfaction (surveys focus groups)

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STATE OF THE PROJECT

• States
• Locals
• T/TA
• Resources
• Results

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Training (National)

• Training
• Project Training 3 days (state local) (52)
• Recruiting Retaining
• Domestic Violence
• FF Best Practices Creating FF Programs
• Conscious Fathering Program (local) (67)
• Creating FF Programs/Organizations (147) 1
  training within state (state local)

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Technical Assistance (Natl)

• TA Teleconference Calls
• 30 calls
• Marketing Dos Donts
• DV Fatherhood Developing Protocols
• Father-Friendly Best Practices
• Understanding F/M Parenting Styles
• Outcome Evaluation data collection
• Program Sharing Learning from Each Other

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Training/TA/PA (State) (07/07 09/08)

• Training Technical Assistance
• 59 Training Events
• 1,090 Phone Calls, Emails, Site Visits,
  Materials
• 493 Public Awareness Activities

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Evaluation/Data CollectionJuly 2007 September
2008 (Year 1)

• 250 education group sessions
• 101- Conscious Fathering classes
• 149 Circle of Parents groups for dads
• 321 new expectant dads served
• 47 married 35 unmarried/living tog 11 living
  apart
• 40 expectant
• 42 household income lt20K
• 39 education some HS, or less than HS 25 HS
  grads
• 71 employed full time
• 62 ages 29 and younger
• 35 Hispanic 49 Caucasian 11
  African-American
• 51 had no other children 24 had 1 other child

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Collaborative Culture

• Recognition that no one person has the solutions
  to multifaceted problems that a group or
  organization must address.
• Leadership requires a set of principles that
  empower all members to act employ a process
  that allows the collective wisdom to surface.
• Leadership is based on an understanding that
  people have the knowledge creativity to respond
  to the problems they face.
• Supportive collective action based on shared
  vision, ownership and mutual values is encouraged
  to develop.

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Creating a Collaborative Culture

• National Circle of Parents Office
• State Network Members (Group-based)
• Local Home Visiting Services
• Fatherhood
• Domestic Violence

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CHALLENGES to creating a Collaborative Culture

• Each has own unique history, language, funding
  streams, focus approach
• Missions can sometimes be at odds
• Families interacting
• Families separating
• Testing Conscious Fathering Program in
  community-based setting
• New way of working together national, state
  local

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CHALLENGES to creating a Collaborative Culture

• Circle of Parents/SL lack of knowledge or
  experience
• HV Programs all different
• Staff get trained and then leave
• Funding decreases in other areas
• Dont know each other
• Little or no experience w/teleconference calls

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CHALLENGES to creating a Collaborative Culture

• Dont know each other operate in silos
• Misunderstanding Stereotyping
• Fears Concerns
• Safety of women and their children
• Safety of children
• Encouraged to stay in abusive relationships
• Dont acknowledge men are sometimes battered

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Saginaw County Protection Council

• Common Group
• Open Communication
• Respect for each orgs role in the community
• Fair Play
• Trust
• Positive Experiences
• Communities of commitment where people are
  continually learning how to learn together.
  
  Peter Senge

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Saginaw County Protection Council

• Sum of whole is greater than any one part alone
• Supportive Environment
• Its all about the families not me or my
  organization
• Mary Ellen Johnson, Div. Dir.
• Teen Parent Services

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Does your Organization have a Collaborative
Culture?

• Commitment to the success of other members,
  rather than just ones own
• Valuing of truth and truth telling
• Commitment to continuous improvement of the whole
  organization
• Attention to relationships
• Active learning
• Personal responsibility

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Does your Organization Have a Collaborative
Culture?

• Trust respect in everyday interactions
• Egalitarian attitudes among members at all ranks
• Shared leadership where all members take
  initiative
• Valuing of diverse perspectives
• Celebrate successes

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TIPS Building Collaborative Culture

• Get to know each other first
• Dont jump into your agenda
• Creating a trusting relationship
• Be intentional and strategic
• Mtgs. must include strategies to encourage open
  constructive dialogue
• Build your collaborative skills
• Identify Common Ground

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• THE SENSE of the GOOSE
• Sharing Leadership

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NATIONAL STAFF

• Cynthia Savage, CEO csavage_at_circleofparents.org
• Dora Walker, Exec. Asst. dwalker_at_circleofparents.o
  rg
• Karen Schrader, T TA Manager circleofparents_at_no
  rthstate.net
• Dr. Ching-Tung Wang, Project Evaluator, Prevent
  Child Abuse America
• National Office
• 500 No. Michigan, 200, Chicago, IL 60611
• www.circleofparents.org