Parenting

The objective of supporting parents is to enable them to develop a nurturing, stimulating relationship with their child, so they develop the child's emotional and intellectual well-being. The question arises how best to support parents. We sought to implement three excellent programs to support directly improvement of the quality of the parent-child relationship, rather than address the indirect factors that can stress it.

Caring Dads: Domestic-Violence Focused

This program addresses the particular challenges and educational needs of men with histories of domestic violence. Abusive men who are parents, pose particular challenges not often met by more generic parenting education programs. For example, children of these men have often been adversely affected by their exposure to domestic violence in ways the abusers fail to recognize or misunderstand as problems of the children of their mother. More than other fathers, abusive men tend to undermine the mother’s relationship with the children. The Caring Dads curriculum not only helps men to recognize the effects of domestic violence on their children but also provides them with positive and concrete ways to become more responsible co-parents.

The Caring Dads curriculum provides powerful incentive for men to recognize, without being lectured or shamed, the importance of setting a more positive example for their children.

The university-community partnership at the heart of this program means that Caring Dads is based on a solid foundation of both theory and practice.

Development of the Caring Dads program has been informed by feedback from the Advisory Committees in London and Toronto, which consist of representatives from child protective services, family justice services, probation services, children's mental health programs and women's advocates.

Parenting Wisely: Adolescents

This program is designed for parents of adolescents and pre-adolescents (ages 8-18). Parenting Wisely has been the subject of many research studies by its creator, Dr. Donald A. Gordon, and also by independent researchers. Strong empirical evidence exists that using Parenting Wisely reduces child behavior problems, delinquency and substance abuse among adolescents, improves parenting knowledge and skills, and strengthens the relationship between adolescent and parent.

Parenting Wisely has been designated an Exemplary Model Program by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA) and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP).