Kansas Strengthening Families Plan Proposed Revisions, Sept 2010
Goal #1 – Kansas families will have access to tangible goods and services to help them cope with stress, particularly in times of crisis or intensified need. (Concrete Supports)
Objective 1.1: Children will have health needs met.
- Strategy 1.1.1 Provide universal health insurance for all children birth to five.
- Strategy 1.1.2 Increase access to health care providers and dental services.
- Strategy 1.1.3 Increase support for a continuum of early screenings for fetal alcohol and drug exposure, obesity, pre-K, early dental, social-emotional, developmental, and universal KEMPE assessments.
- Strategy 1.1.4 Increase immunization rates for all children.
- Strategy 1.2.1 Increase the availability of child care options, especially for infants and toddlers.
- Strategy 1.2.2 Increase the quality of child care by increasing licensing regulations.
- Strategy 1.2.3 Improve accessibility of education and training for child care providers.
- Strategy 1.3.1 Provide adequate funding for quality early child care.
- Strategy 1.3.2 Increase economic stability by increasing participation in family support programs.
- Strategy 1.3.3 Increase state minimum wage.
- Strategy 1.3.4 Improve transportation support.
- Strategy 1.4.1 Increase the number of shelters that are family-friendly.
- Strategy 1.4.2 Increase awareness of respite care for families.
- Strategy 1.4.3 Develop partnership with businesses to provide support to families.
- Strategy 1.4.4 Increase availability of drug and alcohol inpatient facilities that accept families.
Goal #2 – Parents in Kansas have adaptive skills to accept, solve, and manage problems. (Family Functioning/ Resiliency)
Objective 2.1: Children will live in safe and stable environments.
- Strategy 2.1.1 Identify and treat parent/caregiver physical and mental health needs in order to allow them to care for their dependent children.
- Strategy 2.1.2 Provide services to meet the needs of all caregivers, including mothers, fathers, grandparents raising grandchildren, kinship and foster parents.
- Strategy 2.1.3 Increase community partnerships to support families, including partnerships with homeless shelters, faith-based organizations, libraries, etc.
- Strategy 2.1.4 Expand prevention services and incorporate prevention into existing child- and family-serving programs.
- Strategy 2.1.4 Increase home safety by providing families with information on basic safety issues.
- Strategy 2.1.5 Increase availability of affordable housing.
Goal #3 – Parents in Kansas are responsive to their children’s needs. (Nurturing and Attachment/Social-Emotional Development)
Objective 3.1: Children will have social and emotional needs met.
- Strategy 3.1.1 Promote breastfeeding.
- Strategy 3.1.2 Provide parent education on developmental milestones.
- Strategy 3.1.3 Increase training provided in institutions of higher education about infant/toddler mental health.
- Strategy 3.1.4 Implement an early childhood mental health endorsement in Kansas.
- Strategy 3.1.5 Assure screening for all young children and their families utilizing tools as determined appropriate by professional peers.
Goal #4 – Kansas families have a strong network of others in the community to rely on for emotional support. (Social Connections)
Objective 4.1: Families will gain skills to build and maintain naturally occurring support systems.
- Strategy 4.1.1 Support family, friend and neighbor care.
- Strategy 4.1.2 Increase opportunities for parent-child activities.
- Strategy 4.1.2 Increase opportunities, build capacity within communities, and promote and support families in gaining skills to develop healthy, naturally-occurring supports.
- Strategy 4.1.3 Develop opportunities for virtual social networking for parents using online tools such as Facebook and Twitter.
Goal #5 – Kansas parents understand normal child development and utilize effective child management techniques. (Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development)
Objective 5.1: Parents will have the skills and knowledge they need to nurture healthy child development.
- Strategy 5.1.1 Increase health literacy to parents and caregivers.
- Strategy 5.1.2 Implement universal screening for home visitation.
- Strategy 5.1.3 Increase economic security for families by developing financial literacy skills.
- Strategy 5.1.4 Implement life skills education in the school system.
- Strategy 5.1.5 Increase effectiveness and quality of referrals that connect families with services.
Key Infrastructure Elements of the Kansas Strengthening Families Plan
Element 1: Prevention programs in Kansas utilize evidence-based practices.- Provide more funding for parent education programs.
- Increase funding to support EBP and improve training regarding EBP and evaluation.
- Provide diverse Evidence-Based Practices.
- Evaluate Strengthening Families efforts at the agency, community, and state levels.
- Encourage development of evaluation capacity and identify consistent indicators that are used statewide.
- Increase collaboration and communication across systems and empower communities to advocate for needs of families.
- Review regulations and advocate for statute changes that respect privacy and ensure safety.
- Consider revision of Kansas Sentencing Guidelines related to drug offenses.
- Advocate for expanded universal training for mandatory child abuse and neglect (CAN) reporters.
- Engage parents across all socioeconomic levels.
- Increase public education and awareness of infant/toddler mental health.
- Promote key parenting messages that are consistent, delivered in multiple ways, are universal to families, and are culturally sensitive.
Element 4: Promote parent leadership and ownership within parent education programs.
Element 5: Culturally appropriate services are available to families statewide.