Strengthening Families in the News in Illinois
Mar 22 2010An article in the The Beacon News highlights the work of Strengthening Families Illinois in its newest hub, Aurora. For more information about Strengthening Families Illinois, visit www.strengtheningfamiliesillinois.org. You can read more about Parent Cafés at www.keepyourfamilystrong.org.
The following article appeared in the The Beacon News on March 18, 2010.
By Denise Linke For Sun-Times Media
AURORA—The Illinois Department of Child and Family Services is pointing toward “a new normal”—“to help parents raise their children without abuse.”
DCFS Regional Administrator Debbie Palmer-Thomas was in Aurora this week for the announcement of the formation of a local Strengthening Families program, which enlists early childhood teachers and social service agencies to help spot signs of abuse and the family stresses that provoke abuse.
“We don’t want to knock on doors and take people’s children away from them,” Palmer-Thomas said. “Our directors have a vision of a new normal—communities partnering with the state to help parents raise their children without abuse.”
Two Rivers Head Start in Sycamore will coordinate Strengthening Families’ new Aurora hub.
“We want to work alongside parents—not from a position of authority over them,” said Two Rivers Head Start Executive Director Diane Lacey.
Strengthening Families emphasizes several goals to head off child abuse: helping parents be strong and resilient; ensuring that they have friends and don’t feel isolated; teaching parents the basics of parenting and child development; offering financial and emotional support; teaching parents how to impart communication skills to their children; and helping parents understand how much their children need their love and respect.
Once day care center teachers go through training on these factors, they can introduce parents to them as part of their daily interactions with them, said project director Kathy Goetz-Wolf.
Another outreach venue is the Parent Café, a series of informal get-togethers at which stressed-out parents can share problems and advice with each other so their frustration levels never get high enough to explode into violence against their kids. While state and local agency representatives attend, they act only as advisers.
The southern Kane Parent Café will kick off with three sessions, scheduled from 5:30 to 8 p.m. April 8, May 6 and June 3, at Hope Lutheran Church, 1575 Reckinger Road in Aurora. To register, call Mayra Juarez at 630-264-1444.
