Impact
FAMILY SUPPORT
We know that the best way to support children ages birth through five is to support their families. Well-supported families are connected to the people, resources, and tools they need to raise healthy, happy children.
With OCPYC’s support in FY 2018-2019, 17 parents/caregivers completed the Chapel Hill Training and Outreach Project’s KidSCope Incredible Years Toddler Parenting Education Program in English, and seven completed the program in Spanish. This includes 20 parents/caregivers who had never participated in the program before.
In FY 2018-2019, with OCPYC’s support, 53 parents/caregivers – nearly twice as many as projected – were able to participate in the Orange County Department of Social Services’ Community Response Program (CRP). CRP provides family-centered services for Orange County families with children birth to five who have been referred to Child Protective Services with reports closed or screened out at intake and who want further assistance.
CRP engages families for up to 6 months through home visits focused on building protective factors to reduce risk factors that can lead to further CPS involvement, increasing positive parenting practices, and encouraging healthy child development.
“The support of the OCPYC was vital to the success of the first Triple P Parenting Group this fall. We serve families who have recently been involved with Child Protective Services with Orange County DSS, therefore they might be apprehensive about voluntarily attending a group here at DSS to discuss their own parenting struggles and challenges. However, the response was very positive. As one mother stated, ‘I keep coming to this group because I want to do better for my kids’. OCPYC funding allowed us to ensure that parents were able to continue attending this group week after week, so that they could build upon their knowledge of positive parenting strategies, brainstorm and problem-solve as a group, and make vital social connections to relieve some of the stress that comes with parenting young children.”
–Alexa Hamel, Community Response Program, Orange County Department of Social Services
OCPYC supported the Orange County Rape Crisis Center’s Safe Families Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program, an educational training provided by a certified Darkness2Light facilitator in order to bring awareness to the potential signs of child sexual abuse. The Stewards of Children trainings were provided to 45 child care staff and 15 parents/caregivers in Orange County.
With our support, Orange County Literacy Council’s Family Literacy Program served 87 parents/caregivers, with 88% reporting that their child improved in at least one area of reading or that they felt more prepared for their child to start kindergarten as a result of their participation in the program, and 96% reporting an increase in the frequency with which they read to their children.
To support early literacy and facilitate access to books for all of our county’s children, OCPYC participates in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The program’s mission is to foster a love of reading in children from birth to five years old through the gift of a free, age-appropriate book delivered to a child’s home every month. In FY 2018-2019 15,431 books were delivered to 1,039 children in Orange County.
OCPYC’s Reach Out and Read program trains pediatric providers to coach parents at well visits about the critical role that reading and language-rich interactions play in their daily routine, starting at birth. In FY 2018-2019 OCPYC worked with two medical practices, UNC Children’s Primary Care Clinic and the Orange County Health Department. OCPYC purchased 870 age-appropriate books to support the practices and a total of 2,226 well child visits were conducted on children 6 months to 5 years of age.