FOR PROVIDERS
Maine Children's Trust support programs focus on primary and secondary child abuse prevention efforts by strengthening families in every county in Maine. Providers can connect through our programs for professional training, county-level child abuse data, connecting families to support services, joining advisory committees to coordinate services, and make referrals.
- Framework: The Prevention Councils utilize the Center for the Study of Social Policy's Strengthening Families framework to promote protective factors in families.
- Prevention Focused Plans: Annual prevention plans are created that utilize child maltreatment data provided by the Office of Child and Family Services; a needs assessment, which analyzes gaps, community input and an advisory board, to select approved evidence or research-based parenting education, supports and strategies. These targeted and individualized prevention plans focus on programs and activities that will lead to the most substantial advancements in strengthening families and therefore preventing child abuse in each county.
- Curriculum, Programs & Strategies: The Prevention Councils provide parenting education and supports for ALL families. They also serve special populations identified through prevention planning and offer programming for fathers, substance-affected families, co-parenting/separated families, prenatal families, as well as offering education in child sexual abuse prevention as identified. Curriculums and strategies offered by each Prevention Council vary and our based on the community's need. They may include, but are not limited to:
- 123 Magic - All versions
- Active Parenting - All versions
- Circle of Parents
- Circle of Security
- Nurturing Parenting - All versions
- Healthy Relationships Project
- Peer Parent Support Groups
- Parent Cafes
- Playgroups
- And more!
- Professional Training: In addition, the Prevention Councils provide training to family-serving professionals in every county in the following:
- Infant Safe Sleep
- Strengthening Families Protective Factors
- Mandated Reporting, and
- Period of PURPLE Crying, an abusive head trauma prevention training.
- Local Advisory Board/Committees: Each Prevention Council has a local Advisory Board/Committee comprised of diverse community leaders to include businesses, legislators/policymakers, parents/caregivers, providers, and other family-serving professionals. Over 300 community members serve across the state in this role working to support their local communities to ensure child and family well-being and primary prevention efforts are focused on.
- Curriculum: Parents as Teachers helps organizations and professionals work with parents during the critical early years of their children's lives, from conception to kindergarten - and the results are powerful. Grounded in the latest research, Parents as Teachers develops curricula that support a parent's role in promoting school readiness and healthy development of children. Our approach is intimate and relationship-based. We embrace learning experiences that are relevant and customized for the individual needs of each family and child. As a result, individuals and organizations who use our curricula benefit from our understanding of the evolving needs of today's families and children.
- Training: Our organization is successful only when those we support are able to effectively meet the needs of the children and families they serve. Leading health, education and social service organizations and professionals seek out Parents as Teachers curricula and training because of its flexibility to easily integrate with other services they provide. We know our partners serve broad and diverse populations, so our training addresses the developmental needs of any child, including those most vulnerable. We offer providers practical, hands-on applications for parents in real-world situations.
- Advocacy: We advocate for children and families. We are a champion for early intervention and parental involvement and serve as a unified voice for early childhood education and healthy child development. We raise awareness and shape policy around evidence-based practices that support the importance of enhancing school readiness by reaching children during the critical, formative years of life.
- Standards: We set high standard. Our commitment to research and quality drives our work. We are committed to evidenced-based research in order to offer the most relevant information and tools to early childhood development and education providers. The efforts of our work help our partners positively impact children during their most critical, early years of life.
- Approach: The Brazelton Touchpoints Center was founded in 1996 by T. Berry Brazelton, MD, and colleagues and is based in the Division of Developmental Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital. Together with families, providers and communities, the Brazelton Touchpoints Center develops and applies knowledge of early childhood development to practice and policy through professional and organizational development, evaluation, advocacy and awareness and serving as a resource for proven practices. "When we strengthen families, we ultimately strengthen the community. Our goal is that parents everywhere work with supportive providers, feel confident in their parenting role, and form strong, resilient attachments with their children. To help achieve this, providers must be responsive to parents, knowledgeable about child development, and eager to see every parent succeed." - T. Berry Brazelton, MD The vision of the Brazelton Touchpoints Center® is that all children grow up to be adults who can cope with adversity, strengthen their communities, constructively participate in civic life and nurture the next generation to be prepared to do the same. Touchpoints practice guides the work of Maine Families visitors so they can discover together with parents the care and support their child needs to be healthy and ready to succeed.