: Parenting Classes
: Benefits of Parenting Classes
: Court-Ordered Parenting Classes
: Mandatory Parenting Classes
: Court Approved Parenting Classes
: Family Relationships
: Anger Management
: Domestic Violence (DV) Classes
: Benefits Of Domestic Violence Classes
: Life Skills/Coaching
: Support Groups
Parent Education, Anger Management, Domestic Violence Classes, Life Skills, and Support Groups are provided by certified educators with master-level education and experience. A class ratio does not exceed fifteen (15) participants to one (1) facilitator.
PARENTING CLASSES – Parenting Classes are educational classes provided to parents to improve family dynamics. The course teaches parents general parenting skills and helps them develop and maintain positive relationships with their children. Many parents attending parenting classes are going through a divorce, are engaged in a custody battle, or are involved with the child welfare system. Parenting classes do not require clients to maintain a relationship with the other parent but focus on co-parenting skills and nurturing the children’s relationship with their parents. The specific course program differs by the target audience, though the goals are the same, and they are all tailored to help parents struggling with parenting for one reason or another.
ASANTE offers parenting education classes for adults who need assistance in strengthening their emotional attachment to their children, learning how to nurture children, and understanding general principles of care and supervision. At ASNTE, we ensure our:
- Parenting Education services/curriculum comply with Welfare and Institutions Code 16507.7.
- Facilitators utilize evidence-based parenting education models to improve parent-child bonds and parent-child relationships
- Recruitment efforts include engaging fathers, perinatal/kinship programs, grandparents raising grandchildren, and parents of children aged 0 – 5.
BENEFITS OF PARENTING CLASSES
As with all educational programs, the benefits of parenting classes are many and varied. Parents are not the only beneficiaries, as improved parenting skills have a lasting impact on their children.
Divorced and married parents alike reap such benefits of parenting classes as:
- Learning about essential child development, so they know what to expect at each stage in a child’s life
- Learning age-appropriate discipline and how it is more effective than anger-driven punishment
- Learning to recognize their strengths as parents and how to put those strengths to good use
- Learning how to work together as parents to raise their children, even if they are no longer in a relationship
- Learning how to deal with significant problems that may arise
- Learning how to deal with a blended family
COURT-ORDERED PARENTING CLASSES
Court-ordered parenting classes are required for various issues affecting the children that focus on a custody proceeding. In some cases, we offer parenting classes that educate parents on the lasting impacts of divorce, and the conflicts that come with it, which are required before a custody order will be made, or before a divorce or custody will be granted. In these instances, both parents are required to attend the classes and provide a certificate of completion.
The court may also order a parent to attend parenting classes if they have been charged with abuse or neglect or if the court deems they lack entirely parenting skills. The court determines that the child will be at risk if left in that parent’s care in these cases. Court-ordered parenting classes to work with these parents to teach them effective and safe ways to deal with such issues as discipline, anger management, and basic day-to-day parenting skills. By teaching parents these vital skills, abuse can be prevented.
Example 1:
Marisol and Jesus are divorcing and embroiled in a custody battle. Marisol claims that Jesus becomes explosively angry and that he denigrates and belittles the children when they have problems, saying such things as “Well if you weren’t so stupid, you wouldn’t have a C in math!” After interviewing each of the couple’s three children, the family court mediator determines that they are afraid of their father’s anger and afraid to tell him about their problems.
On the mediator’s recommendation, the judge orders Jesus to attend court-approved parenting classes to learn how to parent his children and orders better him to participate in an anger management program. Until Jesus provides certificates of completion for both of these programs, his visitation is limited to every other weekend, with no overnight stays. His mother (the children’s grandmother) must be in attendance to supervise.
Example 2:
Joy and Paul are attending family court mediation to settle the matter of custody of their children. Paul reports that Joy often becomes angry when she attempts to discipline the children, with such attempts commonly devolving into screaming matches. As the children have gotten older, the screaming matches have turned into a daily event. After speaking privately with the couple’s children, the mediator discovers that Joy lacks basic parenting skills, such as age-appropriate discipline.
Based on the mediator’s recommendation, the judge ordered Joy to attend parenting classes and provide a certificate of completion to the court within 90 days. The judge orders the status quo in custody, allowing the children to remain in their mother’s primary care until she completes the parenting classes. At this time, the situation will be re-evaluated.
MANDATORY PARENTING CLASSES
The term mandatory parenting classes often refers to parenting classes required of every parent before a divorce or custody order is made. We offer compulsory parenting classes to adults who apply to become foster parents or adoptive parents. These classes teach prospective foster and adoptive parents how to handle the stress of the process and deal with the issues of becoming a parent of a non-biological child. Many children in the foster care system, including adoptable children, have special needs or have been subjected to abuse or neglect. Mandatory parenting classes teach prospective parents how to cope with these children’s issues and help them grow into happy, healthy adults.
COURT APPROVED PARENTING CLASSES
If a judge has ordered one or both parents to attend parenting classes, the course they choose must meet specific requirements set forth by the court. Commonly, the court will provide parents with a list of court-approved parenting classes from which to choose. If the parents attend a course not approved by the court, they may be required to retake it with an approved provider. Parents are typically required to provide a certificate of course completion to the court after completing parenting classes. The court may also specify a minimum amount of time for a parent to complete a parenting course before adverse action is taken.
FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS ( PARENTING CLASSES) – ASANTE offers parenting classes for parolees assessed with a family relationship (parenting)/ individual need. All family relationship/parenting services utilize the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) principles recognized by the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), or other accredited agency. CBT principles encourage participants to adopt prosocial, law-abiding lifestyles and help them obtain the skills necessary to function as productive members of society. This instruction assists parolees in interpreting social cues, identifying and compensating for distortions and errors in thinking, generating alternative solutions, and making decisions about appropriate behavior. ASANTE provides documentation that instruction was implemented with fidelity to the model to achieve participants’ desired outcomes.
ANGER MANAGEMENT CLASSES – A system of psychological therapeutic techniques and exercises by which someone with excessive or uncontrollable anger can control or reduce the triggers, degrees, and effects of an angered emotional state.
ASANTE utilizes Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (CBT) curriculum with Anger Management classes to address participants with aggressive and anti-social behavior. The goal is to help displace out-of-control destructive behaviors with constructive prosocial behavior, encourage law-abiding lifestyles, and help them obtain the skills necessary to function as productive members of society.
The skills achieved assists participants in interpreting social cues, identifying and compensating for distortions and errors in thinking, generating alternative solutions, and making decisions about appropriate behavior
LIFE SKILLS – ASANTE offers instruction in basic life skills to teach family economics and self-sufficiency (such as job preparation and search, budgeting, and food preparation) and measure outcomes using the Life Skills Progression Instrument or Casey Life Skills tool.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (DV) CLASSES – Domestic violence classes give the client a chance to deal with childhood trauma and adversity. The goal is not to think about the past as an excuse to be physically violent. Instead, it’s to resolve problems that are holding you back from having healthy relationships. Every successful domestic violence class will have the same objective— imparting knowledge to break the abuse cycle. Real success is seeing yourself or a friend who lives in an abusive relationship find freedom and wholeness again through action. Return from domestic violence classes to domestic violence help.
Goals of Domestic Violence Classes are:
- Hold offenders accountable, challenge their beliefs, and teach new skills to help offenders change their behavior
- Provide role models while educating offenders about non-controlling behaviors
- Hold offenders responsible, challenge their beliefs, and introduce new skills to help offenders change their behavior
- Confront collusion and victim-blaming by offenders and others
- Challenge myths about domestic violence
- Coordinate services, including referrals to other agencies for needed services
- Report compliance and noncompliance to the courts or other referral sources
BENEFITS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CLASSES
- Minimizes Negative Beliefs
- Learning the Pattern of Abuse in the Relationship
- Normalize the Survivor’s Feelings
- Build a Network of Support
- Development of a Safety Plan
ASANTE offers DV classes designed to meet the various needs of domestic violence survivors to help them process their experiences, begin the healing process, and develop critical skills needed to maintain a non-destructive lifestyle.
ASANTE provides court-approved 52-Week Batterer’s Program (BIP) for parolees who have a case history of inflicting domestic violence on others or who have a particular condition of parole as determined. ASANTE facilitators are certified/approved Batterer’s program providers per PC Section 1203.098. The Batterer’s Program provisions are administered per PC Section 1203.097, including complying with requirements for gender-specific instruction, socialization, the nature of violence, the dynamics of power and control, and the effects of abuse on the victim. ASANTE provides appropriate documentation that the education was implemented with fidelity to the model to achieve desired outcomes.
SUPPORT GROUPS – A group of people, sometimes led by a therapist, provides moral support, information, and advice on problems relating to some shared characteristics or experience. The County is looking to establish support groups for those going through the reunification process.