Raising Standards of Practice
Across the country, Family Support and Strengthening organizations work with families in a multigenerational, family-centered approach to enhance parenting skills, foster the healthy development and well-being of children, youth, and families, prevent child abuse, increase school readiness, connect families to resources, develop parent and community leadership, engage males and fathers, support healthy marital and couples relationships, and promote family economic success.
Georgia became part of the national network in 2018 and has since been working to grow a family support network within Georgia.
Connecting and Convening Network Members to Enhance their Effectiveness
Increasing connectedness amongst members for peer learning and mutual support through convenings, e-newsletters, and networking.
Promoting Family Support, Best Practices, and Evaluation
Raising awareness of what quality Family Support is and promoting a common language, standards, and evaluation of the Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support. These Standards are the first and only standards in the country to integrate and operationalize the Principles of Family Support Practice with the Strengthening Families Framework and its research-based evidence-informed 5 Protective Factors.
Raising Visibility of the Value and Impact of Family Support and Strengthening Networks
In order to strengthen and increase support for families in Georgia, we work to highlighting both the need to support and strengthen families and the effective, skilled networks, organizations, and workforce needed to do so, including promoting the establishment of networks in states without them.
Family Strengthening & Support
The Georgia Family Support Network uses the Standards, developed by the National Family Support Network, to train and provide technical assistance to programs in Georgia to:
- Define what it means to be a quality Family Strengthening Support Program
- Teach common language that can be used for working effectively with families
- Provide support for managers, direct service staff, and families to work together to develop and sustain quality programs
The Standards integrate and operationalize the Principles of Family Support Practice with the Strengthening Families’ 5 Protective Factors. This framework creates a common language and expectations across different kinds of Family Strengthening and Family Support programs, such as Family Resource Centers, home visiting programs, and child development programs.
The Standards:
- Help ensure that families are supported and strengthened through quality practice
- Provide a structure for further professionalization of the Family Strengthening and Support field
- Are designed to be used by all stakeholders as a tool for planning, providing, and assessing quality practice
- Create a common language and expectations across different kinds of Family Support programs
Family Centeredness
Value and recognize families as integral to the program
Family Strengthening
Family strengthening approach to support families to be strong, healthy, and safe.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Respecting families’ diversity and engaging in ongoing learning and adaptation to diversity.
Community Strengthening
Facilitating social connections, developing families’ leadership skills, and collaborating with partners.
Evaluation
Looking at areas of strength and opportunity, for continuous quality improvement.
Applications of the Standards
|
Family Strengthening and Support Programs
|
Networks of Family Strengthening and Support Providers
|
Families
|
|
Direct Service Staff
|
Funders
|
Policy Makers
|
Become a Member of the Georgia Family Support Network
GFSN welcomes all family-serving organizations that want to become trained in the Standards, work towards improving program quality, and have a desire to connect with others. The first step is reaching out and attending or hosting a Standards Training.
Contact Us
Address
| Physical: | 140 Decatur Street SE 1st Floor, Suite 178 Atlanta, GA 30303 |
| Mailing: | P.O. Box 3995 Atlanta, GA 30302 |
Donate
Media Inquiries
Contact
Social Media
Prevent Child Abuse Georgia is not a child abuse and neglect reporting agency. To make a report of child abuse and neglect in Georgia, visit cps.dhs.ga.gov, or call the 24/7 reporting hotline 1-855-GACHILD (1-855-422-4453).
Looking for resources to help a family? Visit Find Help Georgia.