Georgia Center for Child Advocacy
The Center for Child Advocacy’s mission is to champion the needs of sexually and severely physically abused children through prevention, intervention, therapy, and collaboration.These services are provided at no cost to children who reside in or were abused in DeKalb or Fulton County. The Georgia Center for Child Advocacy’s role throughout the criminal investigation is to focus on the child’s needs, rather than focusing on the crime itself.
They also train adults through a statewide initiative to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. Recently, they launched a new training curriculum called Connections Matter, which embeds the Strengthening Families protective factors in discussing the importance of relationships in preventing adverse childhood experiences.
Established in 1981, Black Child Development Institute (BCDI)-Atlanta coordinates community programs and initiatives in Atlanta and throughout the state of Georgia, supporting the focus areas of the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI)—early childhood education, literacy, family engagement, child welfare, policy, and health.
For 46 years, NBCDI has been at the forefront of engaging leaders, policymakers, professionals and parents around critical and timely issues that directly impact Black children and families. NBCDI is committed to its mission “to improve and advance the quality of life for Black children and families through education and advocacy.” NBCDI and its National Affiliate Network are non-profit organizations.
With the support of NBCDI and its local community partners, BCDI-Atlanta delivers high-quality resources that respond to the unique strengths and needs of Black children and their families. BCDI-Atlanta partners with children, families and organizations to implement culturally-relevant, culturally responsive, trauma sensitive and evidence-based programs promoting high-quality early care and education, literacy, health, and family engagement. Our partnership with Strengthening Families Georgia has provided a conduit for fulfilling our mission.
Connect with BCDI-Atlanta on Facebook, Instagram , and Twitter
Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) is the state agency responsible for meeting the child care and early education needs
of Georgia’s children and their families. It administers the nationally recognized Georgia’s Pre-K Program, licenses child care centers and home-based child care, administers Georgia’s Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) program, federal nutrition programs, and manages Quality Rated, Georgia’s community powered child care rating system.
Standard 3 of the Online Portfolio in Quality Rated is Family Engagement. This standard supports providers in partnering with families to improve child outcomes. Georgia uses the Strengthening Families Framework and Family Engagement Task Force recommendations to build a strong foundation of family partnerships and community connections. Also as part of this standard child care providers are encouraged to complete the Strengthening Families online training that was created by Strengthening Families Georgia.
The Section of Prevention and Community Support (PCS) within the Georgia Division of 
Family and Children Services is focused on primary and secondary child maltreatment prevention. PCS works in partnership with community-based organizations committed to reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect with evidence-based prevention and early intervention techniques to ensure positive outcomes for children and families.
State and federal funding provides families throughout Georgia with services such as parenting courses, screening and identification tools, training opportunities, high-quality home visitation and primary, secondary, and tertiary maltreatment prevention that helps local communities promote the overall health and well-being of Georgia’s children, youth and families.
PCS promotes the use of the five Protective Factors with all of our direct service providers as well as within the Division. We provide SFG literature and materials to families and providers we serve, such as a monthly calendar of parenting tips which includes SFG’s Concrete Supports in Times of Need Resource Directory. We also embed the Protective Factors in all of our PCS trainings and materials and financially support the statewide SFG initiative.
The Georgia Alliance to End Homelessness is a statewide network committed to fostering strategic initiatives that build collaborative responses to the needs of homeless children, families, unaccompanied youth and individuals in Georgia. The Georgia Alliance partners with homeless shelters and mainstream service providers to promote homeless prevention and a housing first strategy whenever possible.
Georgia Alliance to End Homelessness hosts a Homeless Resources Help Line by phone: 1-877-540-4671
A 
nd with a computer based Search Services Provider Network that is accessible and available to anyone who needs assistance locating the emergency services and resources in their community.
Strengthening Families has become an important component of Georgia Alliance as we address our goal to increase public awareness of the scope and impact of homelessness on children and families. The Georgia Alliance is committed to assist Strengthening Families Georgia by promoting the framework of protective factors and incorporating the strategies in all areas of our related work. www.gahomeless.org
The Georgia Association for the Education of Young Children (GAEYC) is a non-profit professional development association for early childhood professionals that supports the education and development of Georgia’s young children ages birth to 8. GAEYC is the Georgia affiliate of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Southern Early Childhood Association. GAEYC has been serving young children for more than 50 years. 
The GAEYC Vision is a world in which all young children have the learning opportunities they need for healthy development, supported by early childhood educators who have the education, financial support, and the recognition of their community.
The Mission of GAEYC is to encourage and support healthy development in young children by working with others (1) to increase public awareness of the importance of early childhood education, and (2) to improve the quality of programs for young children through learning opportunities for early childhood educators.
GAEYC has embraced the Strengthening Families™ Framework since their 2007 Strategic Plan. GAEYC began embedding the Strengthening Families™ Framework of protective factors and strategies into their DECAL funded Technical Assistance Project for Early Learning Centers in 2008. GAEYC later served as administrative home for Strengthening Families Georgia funded by DHS/DFCS from 2010-19. For SFG accomplishments during that time please see the SFG history page.
Want to stay up to date on what’s happening at GAEYC? Sign up for the GAEYC e-newsletter. For more information on GAEYC, visit www.gaeyc.net.
The Georgia Head Start Association, Inc. (GHSA) is a statewide non-profit organization with the mission to provide education, leadership and advocacy that supports Head Start 
programs’ efforts in delivering high quality comprehensive services to Georgia’ to enhance the capability of local Head Start programs to deliver quality comprehensive services to children and their families. GHSA represents the 31 Head Start and Early Head Start agencies in the state of Georgia that provide these services to over 25,000 low-income preschool children birth through five-years-old and their families.
GHSA has allowed many of their employees to be trained or become trainers in Strengthening Families 5 Protective Factors and Parent Cafés. Incorporating the Protective Factors through continual training of staff enhances strength-based approaches, the linkage of caregivers to resources, connecting parents to each other and more.
The Georgia Department of Education (DOE) has embedded the Protective Factors into several of their efforts. The GA DOE comprehensive Family Engagement Process and Plan embeds family engagement into school improvement goals and includes the Protective Factors in their crosswalk. 
In other efforts the State School Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Council is a group of parents from across the state that provides input on new policies, projects, and materials that impact students and their families. Advisory Council members are particularly focused on how to increase parent and family engagement to ensure student academic success. The Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership’s mission is to build effective family, school, and community partnerships that lead to greater achievement for students, especially those with disabilities. www.parentmentors.org
November is Family Engagement Month in Georgia, and districts and schools across the state annually highlight programs and initiative that promote parent involvement.
Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP) is a statewide network dedicated to the health and well-being of families and communities by empowering communities in all 159 Georgia counties to craft local solutions based on local decisions.
Collaboration and collective effort yield collective impact, and that is the path to lasting change in Georgia. They connect our state and local partners like to the resources they need, like Strengthening Families Georgia’s Protective Factor Trainings and Parent Cafes, to address their communities’ most pressing concerns, help coordinate and manage their efforts, and strengthen communities to craft innovative solutions.
This disciplined approach to collaboration is revealed in our statewide initiatives, which are focused on indicators that drive child and family well-being, strengthen communities, and help Georgia prosper.
GaFCP is the state’s designated KIDS COUNT grantee and compiles current, reliable data on child and family well-being in each of our state’s 159 counties. Georgia KIDS COUNT reports year-to-year data highlights, trends, and disparities on child well-being to inform planning, budget, and policy decisions regarding priorities, services, and resources that affect children, families, and communities in our state.
Georgia tracks 50 Indicators of Child Well-Being in five result areas that support our vision for a Georgia where all children are healthy, primed for school, and succeed when they get there; that all families are stable, self-sufficient, and productive; and that every community is vibrant, robust, and thriving.
Connect with GaFCP in your county.
Interfaith Children’s Movement (ICM) believes that ensuring children’s well-being requires advocacy on behalf of the whole child, including the healthy functioning of that child’s 
family. Therefore, being a part of the Strengthening Families Georgia (SFG) initiative is congruent with ICM’s philosophy. Strengthening Families, through the Five Protective Factors, offers a framework that maximizes the healthy development of children and their families. ICM has embedded Strengthening Families by:
- providing the Strengthening Families training to faith communities and other agencies and institutions that have meaningful interaction with children and their families;
- including a discussion of the Five Protective Factors in its mandatory reporting for child abuse training;
- providing access to SFG information and materials through ICM’s online Parental Nurture module; and
- consulting SFG’s reports and research to help inform its advocacy on child well-being issues.
MAAC is a collaborative committed to creating innovative approaches that advance life-changing results for Georgia’s at-risk 
youth and families. MAAC was chosen to be one of fifteen local, state and national youth and family serving programs that exemplify CSSP’s Youth Thrive™ framework. The approach calls for developing five protective factors in young people (age 11-26) that help mitigate or eliminate risk and promote healthy development and well-being. The CSSP Youth Thrive Protective Factors are parallel to the Strengthening Families™ Protective Factors but focus on the well-being of youth.
PCA Georgia is focused on changing the way we think about prevention, focusing on community activities and public policies that prioritize prevention right from the start to make sure child abuse and neglect never occur. PCA works to ensure the healthy development of children statewide while recognizing that child development is a building block for community development and economic development. 
PCA Georgia embeds Strengthening Families Protective Factors into their programmatic mission by housing the 1-800-CHILDREN Helpline, linking parents and caregivers across the state with local supportive resources. The variety of resources stored in the helpline’s database exemplifies the concrete supports that families can utilize to be self-sufficient in their community.
View examples of how Prevent Child Abuse Georgia embeds Strengthening Families Protective Factors: Prevention Fact Sheet.
Early Education and Family Centers 
Sheltering Arms embeds Strengthening Families 5 Protective Factors through Parent Cafes and their emphasis on family engagement. They believe when families are actively engaged, everyone benefits. Children will be healthier and more ready for kindergarten; Families will be more engaged programmatically; Programs will achieve higher levels of quality and Communities will provide stronger supports to the next generation.
The Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Stephanie V. Blank Center for Safe and Healthy Children, a service of Children’s at Scottish Rite and Children’s at Hughes Spalding hospitals, promotes the safety, protection and well-being of children through advocacy in the community and the identification, behavioral health assessment and counseling, and prevention of child abuse. They offer many trainings and resources to professionals and families to help build community resilience and also concrete support in times of need. View their services online here.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta created Strong4Life to help busy parents raise healthy children. Their programs and services are reflective of Strengthening Families Protective Factors. Armed with a team of doctors, registered dietitians, mental health therapists and other wellness experts (knowledge of child development), Strong4Life focuses on three key strategies: equipping parents with the resources they need at home (concrete support in times of need), training healthcare providers and working with schools and the community to impact kids where they learn and play.
By taking our expert knowledge in parenting, and child development we work to train a variety of community partners on promoting child wellness. This knowledge also lends itself to supporting families in times of need, whether it’s when they visit a Strong4Life-trained medical provider and receive parent take-home materials or visit our online resource for parents, Strong4Life.com.
Several Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) colleges use the Strengthening Families Georgia (SFG) Videos and Modules to supplement
their coursework in the field of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). These resources include the five protective factors and SFG’s research, which provide current trends and issues related to strong families and the well-being of children. All of these resources assist in providing TCSG ECCE students information that is helpful and current when teaching Georgia’s young children.
The 22 colleges of the Technical College System of Georgia are Georgia’s top resource for skilled workers. TCSG offers world-class training in more than 600 associate degree, diploma and certificate programs to students who are trained on state-of-the-art equipment by instructors who are experts in their fields.
Voices for Georgia’s Children is a nonprofit child policy and advocacy organization. Their mission is to be a powerful, unifying voice for a public 
agenda that ensures the well being of all Georgia’s children. They also support Strengthening Families Georgia’s 5 protective factors through their advocacy at the state capitol, working to ensure all bills passed pertaining to children build on families’ strengths. Their work also includes educating the general public on measure that can be taken throughout the state to promote the protective factors. They hold regular meetings during session and educational panels year round, learn how you can participate online.