Program Goals

The goals of The Family Growth Center (FGC) are:

• Improved access to a comprehensive set of educational and support services within their own high-risk neighborhood
• Reduced likelihood of repeat pregnancy
• Reduced likelihood of dropping out of school
• Improved parenting knowledge and skills
• Improved health and development of themselves and their children
• Improved school outcomes and educational achievements such as higher grades and increased involvement in school activities
• Improved access and/or transportation to needed services for themselves and their children

Logic Model

The program representative did not provide information about a Logic Model for The Family Growth Center (FGC).

Essential Components

The essential components of The Family Growth Center (FGC) include:

• Perinatal coaching:
• Occurs during the teen mother's stay in the hospital
• Helps enhance the new mother's appreciation of the sensory and interactional abilities of her newborn
• Collects baseline clinical information for the program's contracted social workers (Case Managers)
• Home visits:
• Occur during the six-month nesting period of the infant's life
• Offer general social support, parenting advice, and crisis intervention to the new mother in her own home
• Center-based services:
• Occur once the baby reaches six months of age
• Occur at a designated FGC location (a dwelling centrally located within the targeted high-risk neighborhood)
• Offer specific activities and services that include:
• Bimonthly parenting classes
• Supervised daycare
• Counseling
• Transportation
• Recreation
• Advocacy and referral services (e.g., information on medical, educational, housing options, etc.)

Program Delivery

Child/Adolescent Services

The Family Growth Center (FGC) directly provides services to children/adolescents and addresses the following:

• Infants at high risk of poor development, disruptive behaviors, poor social interaction behaviors

Parent/Caregiver Services

The Family Growth Center (FGC) directly provides services to parents/caregivers and addresses the following:

• Teen mothers at high risk of negative outcomes including second pregnancy, dropping out of school, and unskilled/abusive/neglectful parenting

Services Involve Family/Support Structures:

This program involves the family or other support systems in the individual's treatment: The FGC program encourages involvement of the nuclear and extended family in supporting the teen mother and infant. Teen mothers' families (parents, other caregivers, siblings) who live at the same home are also visited by case managers, who provide general social support, advice, introduce families to the array of FGC services, and generally make an effort to establish trust and rapport with the family support network as well as the teen mother and infant. The FGC also offers a variety of Grandmothers' Support Group sessions for the parents of teen mothers. These are loosely structured discussion sections around general themes such as caregiver stress, grandparents' roles, and setting boundaries. The FGC also includes a social/recreational component, which is primarily focused on parent/child activities, but involves family and community members as much as possible.

Recommended Intensity:

Weekly case management visits, bimonthly parenting classes, other services as needed/available

Recommended Duration:

6 months of case management, at least 2 years of additional services

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Birth Family Home
• Hospital
• Community-based Agency / Organization / Provider

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

Depending on the services offered, typical resources needed to run the FGC program include computers, overhead projectors, TV/VCR, FGC center location for training workshops, educational seminars, orientation meetings, etc., day care facilities (optional), nutrition services centers (optional), program director, program coordinator, case managers, parent support coordinators, advocate(s), transportation staff, short-term day care assistants/social and recreational activity assistants (optional), child development specialist (optional), and volunteer staff (optional).

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

• Program Directors: Considerable work experience and Master's or PhD degrees in education, social work, child development, and/or other relevant field
• Program Coordinator: Considerable work experience and Master's or PhD degrees in education, social work, child development, and/or other relevant field
• Case Managers: Advanced credentials in social work (i.e., Master's degree in social work [MSW] or licensed clinical social worker [LCSW]) or master's degree in family and child development. Bilingual reading, writing, and speaking skills may be required by particular programs.
• Parent Support Coordinators: Master's in education (M.Ed) or MSW degree is preferred, as is experience working with teens, families, and/or young children. Bilingual reading, writing and speaking skills are highly desirable.
• Advocate(s): Bachelor's degree in a related field and/or relevant experience working with teens, families, and/or young children is preferred. Bilingual reading, writing and speaking skills are highly desirable.
• Transportation staff: Clean driving record at the Department of Motor Vehicles and appropriate state class licenses
• Short-term day care assistants/social and recreational activity assistants: Experience up to the discretion of each individual program; college students seeking internship opportunities or early childhood education credits are recommended

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Training Information

There is not training available for this program.

Implementation Information

Pre-Implementation Materials

There are pre-implementation materials to measure organizational or provider readiness for The Family Growth Center (FGC) as listed below:

The facilitator's manual includes a section on how to assess your community's needs and assets. This section describes the importance of performing a needs and assets assessment, and briefly details what such an assessment should include and how to perform it. The manual is not publicly available, but is included among the FGC program materials offered at www.socio.com.

Formal Support for Implementation

There is formal support available for implementation of The Family Growth Center (FGC) as listed below:

Sociometrics Corporation provides formal technical support for one year following the purchase of the FGC materials. Technical assistance on program implementation and evaluation is offered optionally via telephone or email.

Fidelity Measures

There are fidelity measures for The Family Growth Center (FGC) as listed below:

The measures include:

• Case Manager Home-Visit Notes: A form which records the date of each home visit, the family members present, and additional notes on the visit
• Monthly Client Summary form for Case Managers: Tracks the number and duration of calls made to the client (teen mother) over the month; the number, date, duration, and purpose of home visits made; school enrollment status; birth control use/appointments; and FGC services utilized. The section on the form regarding FGC services covers parenting classes (date, facilitator, topic), advocacy services (date, initiated by FGC referral or client, service provided), Grandmother Groups attended by client's grandmother (date, discussion topics), and social/recreational events attended (date, event). No training is required to use the fidelity measures.
• Advocate Daily Data Log: A form which details advocacy service requests and responses, including the client's name, date of request, how the client requested advocacy services (in-person, phone, etc.), the nature of the requests, actions taken by advocate, and request status
• Advocate Monthly Data Log: A form which summarizes all monthly client contacts, plus workshops attended by the advocate

The measures are not publicly available, but are included among the FGC program materials offered at www.socio.com.

Implementation Guides or Manuals

There are implementation guides or manuals for The Family Growth Center (FGC) as listed below:

A facilitator's manual and staff orientation manual are available. The facilitator's manual contains background information on the program, offers concrete sessions for establishing an FGC, discusses preliminary assessment of community needs, provides an overview of basic and secondary/optional FGC services, provides guidelines for implementing five key FGC services, and offers general guidelines for staff development and staff organization in the FGC program. The staff orientation manual was developed to provide staff members with a better understanding of the FGC program, including information on the program's history, principles, focus, services, and resources. It describes staff development, coalition efforts with community agencies/organizations, and funding sources. The manual is not publicly available, but is included among the FGC program materials offered at www.socio.com.

Research on How to Implement the Program

Research has not been conducted on how to implement The Family Growth Center (FGC).

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

Additional References

No reference materials are currently available for The Family Growth Center (FGC).