How Can Families Be Strengthened?

Families are stronger when “responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere … promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World”). Strong families strengthen communities, states, and nations. 

The above referenced proclamation was read by President Gordon B Hinckley, as part of his message at the General Relief Society Meeting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held September 23, 1995, in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was later published by the Church of Jesus Christ.

While researching information on strengthening families, I found a web site sponsored by the State of Alaska, Department of Family and Community Services. The web site is titled “Strengthening Families Alaska.” 

According to the web site, Strengthening Families Alaska “is a research-informed, strength-based approach to helping families reduce stress, address risk factors, and promote healthy development.” The site continues: “The overarching goal is the promotion of child and family well-being .. based on engaging families, programs and communities in building five protective factors that help families succeed and strive, even in the face of risk and challenges.”

The Strengthening Families approach

·       Benefits ALL families and communities

·       Builds on family strengths, buffers risk, and promotes better outcomes

·       Can be implemented through small but significant changes in everyday actions

·       Builds on and can become a part of existing programs, strategies, systems and community opportunities

·       Is grounded in research, practice and implementation knowledge

What is special about this approach?

Communities, providers, and families can embed five protective factors seamlessly into their ongoing work to the benefit of families and children. Five Protective Factors are the foundation of the Strengthening Families Approach…. Research studies support the common-sense notion that when these Protective Factors are well established in a family, the likelihood of child abuse and neglect diminishes. Research shows that these Protective Factors are also “promotive” factors that build family strengths and a family environment that promotes optimal child and youth development.

Protective Factors

The Center for the Study of Social Policy initially spent two years researching and identifying five protective factors that prevent child abuse and neglect. Since the introduction of the Strengthening Families approach, the research base that originally informed the development of the protective factors framework, as well as scientific advances in various disciplines, has burgeoned. These advances in knowledge have deepened the understanding about child development and behavior, the developmental impacts of trauma, and the pathways to child and family well-being…. The five protective factors associated in research that are related to the prevention of child maltreatment are:

·       For adults:

§  Parental resilience

§  Social connections

§  Knowledge of parenting and child development

§  Concrete support in times of need

·       For children:

§  Healthy social and emotional development