Parent Advocacy
The U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1991 cited home visiting programs as its "single most important recommendation" to prevent child abuse and neglect. Working with families before ineffective parenting practices begin is essential to family well-being.Home visits offer a way to reach isolated or high risk families and provide them with assistance in developing parenting, home management, and life skills.

The parent advocates are paraprofessional advisors-usually mothers returning to work after raising their own children-who visit famlies in their home and connect them with such services as prenatal care, food banks, federal and state welfare programs, English classes, and health care.

This program is a "parent to parent" approach in close collaboration with multi-disciplinary professional teams.

The majority of families served by FSC Parent Advocates are living in extreme poverty with barely adequate housing and few or no physical possesions. Home visits provide an opprtunity to work with a family in their own home environment. This allows the parent advocate to learn first hand about the condition of life for the parent and child.

Referral to the parent advocate program often comes through a clinician at FSC, Utah State Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS), or many school districts, as well as self-referrals.

Links to Other Parenting Resources