News

 

Stakeholders Meeting Update
December 2008

Over 40 Kansas Strengthening Families stakeholders met on November 6 in Lawrence, KS to share information and move forward with implementation of the Plan. Meeting handouts and resource links are now posted on the KSF Plan website, and are included below for your reference.

• KSF Plan Meeting Agenda, November 6, 2008
• Kansas Parent Initiative, Ackerman, Whitehorn, & Counts

The Kansas Strengthening Families Leadership Team identified parent involvement and parent leadership as a priority for 2008-09. In conjunction with the Kansas Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Plan and the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention programs, the Kansas Parent Initiative will help us to gain a deeper understanding of the ways parents define parent involvement and access supports to get the resources they need to nurture their children and integrate information on how agencies utilize parent input and make programmatic changes in response.

• Literature review and project overview
• Parent Involvement Model
• Technology Resource List
• Protective Factors

From the Center for the Study of Social Policy: The five Protective Factors are the foundation of the Strengthening Families approach. Extensive research supports the common-sense notion that when these Protective Factors are present and robust in a family, the likelihood of child abuse and neglect diminish.

• Center for the Study of Social Policy: Small But Significant Changes - Protective Factors document
• Examples from the KSF Leadership Team: Integrating Protective Factors
  • Kansas Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, Messner
  • Kansas Children’s Service League, Roper & Lansing
    • Protective Factors worksheets
    • eLearning
    • Community resource library
    • Parent Helpline - 1-800-332-6378
      • An anonymous, statewide, free, information & referral service available 24/7 to parents, relatives, caregivers and professionals.
  • Office of the Attorney General, Urban & Russell

• National Strengthening Families Efforts

National organizations provide support, resources, and learning opportunities to states on the Strengthening Families approach.

• Center for the Study of Social Policy
• Strengthening Families National Network – national learning community around Strengthening Families and the Protective Factors - Kansas overview
• CSSP Self-Assessment for Early Care & Education Centers
• Strengthening Families Materials in Alternative Languages
• National Alliance of Children’s Trust and Prevention Funds
  • Theory of Change
• FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention
  • Fact Sheet on Parent Mutual Support

• Implementing the Kansas Strengthening Families Plan

Agencies and programs can use the Protective Factors worksheets as a starting point for discussions about implementing the KSF Plan and the Strengthening Families approach.

• Protective Factors Toolkit

Visit the KSF Plan online at www.ksfplan.org for even more resources on Strengthening Families – powerpoints, factsheets, and handbooks are available for download and use in your agencies and programs.

Questions or comments about the KSF Plan newsletter? Contact us at ksfplan@ku.edu.

 

Previous Kansas Strengthening Families Newsletters

July/August 2008 (Block Grant RFP, Parent Mutual Support Fact Sheet, Kansas Parent Initiative, KACCRRA's EXCEL program)

May 2008 (Background and Overview of the KSF Plan, Center for the Study of Social Policy)