 |
|
|
In 2001, with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Center for the Study of Social Policy set out to create a strategic, feasible approach to child abuse prevention that was:
- Systematic,
- National,
- Would reach large numbers of very young children, and
- Would have impact long before abuse or neglect occurred
The Center embarked on an intensive exploration of the role that early care and education centers (such as Head Start, child care, preschool and other child development programs that provide ongoing, daily child-care to children age 0-6) can play in child abuse and neglect prevention.
Year 1 of the project focused on identifying exemplary programs and learning more about how they are structured, and key aspects of their role in supporting and strengthening families. In Year 2 the Center distilled
|
learnings from the programs into recommendations and tools
that can impact a broader array of early care and education programs.
One of the key outcomes of the first two years of the Strengthening Families Through Early Care and Education Project is a new framework for preventing child abuse and neglect.
CSSP plans to build on the knowledge gained through the first two years of the Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education project by:
- Mounting a national effort to embed family strengthening strategies in early childhood education programs
- Finding more exemplary programs
- Investing in helping other programs learn how to implement these strategies
- Building effective linkages with child welfare agencies and child abuse prevention advocates
- Strengthening the early childhood system and infrastructure
|
|
|
