In our General Parenting and Child Endangerment/Child Abuse Education class students will enhance their knowledge, skills and values by learning effective parenting methods through in-class presentations, viewing video tapes, group interactions and discussions, role playing, and active feedback. Individual parenting instruction and coaching are also offered as an alternative treatment approach or in collaboration with the group format.
Parenting topics include but are not limited to the following:
- Child and Adolescent Human Growth and Development Education, including but not limited to safety, nutrition and health
- Building self-esteem, including, but not limit to, parents’ building a positive parental identity and building self-esteem of their children
- How to strengthen the child and parent and overall family attachment
- Enhancing positive communication which includes empathic non-judgmental and non-defensive listening which may result in the parent learning to listen to and speak with the child
- Positive non-physical discipline
- Enhancing the child social intelligence
- Self-Care methods for the child and parent
- Stress and anger management for the child and parent
- Building resiliency (child, parent and family)
Child Endangerment /Child Abuse Prevention
When the court believes that a parent acted in a matter that endangered a child, the court may order him/her to complete a Child Abuse Treatment Program (California Penal Code 273.1). Our staff offers a treatment program that meets the legal requirements.
Our Child Endangerment Program Facilitators are caring and compassionate licensed therapists or a master level intern who is under direct supervision of a licensed mental health professional. The facilitator has expertise and experience in the treatment of victims of child abuse and the families in which abuse and violence have occurred. The students/clients/participants will learn strategies to prevent future child endangerment subjects in the general parenting classes and:
- Parenting education that focuses, among other things, on means of identifying developmental and emotional needs of the child
- Methods of preventing and breaking the cycle of family violence
- Definition of child abuse and neglect
- Impact of abuse upon the child (effects of childhood trauma)
- Anger/stress management
- Reduce conflict and increase cohesion in family
- Reduce use of coercion (hostility, anger, verbal aggression, threats) by the caregiver and other family members
- Reduce use of physical force (aggressive behavior) by the caregiver, child, and, as relevant, other family members
- Promote nonaggressive (alternative) discipline and interactions
- Reduce child physical abuse risk or recidivism (prevention of child welfare system involvement or repeated reports/allegations).
- Improve the level of child’s safety/welfare and family functioning
Specialty Topics
Our staff recognizes that no one parenting curriculum can address all the needs of diverse families. We know that families are challenged with stress such as multigenerational households, single parenting, and child care, lack of support (emotional and financial), and emotional, mental, behavioral and physical issues, and more. Therefore, we may include the following in our parenting class depending on the needs of the students/participants:
- Positive Father Involvement/Fatherhood
- Effective Co-Parenting strategies
- Drug abuse and addictions prevention
- Effectively coordinating and collaborating with school staff to ensure child’s educational needs are met
- Strategies to handle bullying
- How to effectively parent a child with
- Attention Deficient Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD),
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD),
- Intermitted Explosive Disorder, or
- an emotional disturbance
- a lack of social skills
- gifted level intelligence
- other behavior related issues
Intake
Prior to the enrollment the potential student/client/participant will complete an intake packet. To successfully complete the intake the arrest report, prior incidents of violence, and treatment history to the program is needed to provide knowledge to successfully assist the individual.
Monthly Reporting
The facilitator will submit reports to the probation department and the court with periodic progress reports at least every three months that include attendance, fee payment history, and program compliance. A final evaluation shall also be provided to the probation department and court that includes the evaluation of the student/participants/client’s progress, and recommendation for either successful or unsuccessful termination of the program.