Nurturing Family Programs (NFP) are designed to empower all family members with new knowledge, beliefs, strategies and skills to make good and healthy lifestyle choices. Established in 1983, the program places emphasis on strengthening families using the evidence-based Nurturing Parenting Program Curriculum. It is a family-centered initiative designed to build nurturing skills, together as a family.
Using evidence-based tools, in-depth pre- and post- assessments are conducted to determine the family’s risk levels and make recommendations. Each family will receive individualized goals and objectives that are specific to their needs. Facilitators customize the curriculum to build on parents’ strengths and address weaknesses in order to reduce or eliminate the need for future intervention. The focus of the program is on creating developmentally appropriate expectations of parents for their children, developing parental empathy, effective discipline strategies, healthy family roles for each family member and personal power and independence within the family.
Twelve group sessions are held to teach Nurturing Parenting basics. An initial session must be completed to enroll in the program.
Supervised visitations are also part of the program. Visitations supports the development of parenting skills, assists in rebuilding a healthy parent/child relationship, and prevents child abuse.
The benefits of NFP include parents better managing their stress and anger, gain problem-solving, disciplining, and negotiating skills. Children learn to improve how they express their feelings, improve their self-worth and increase their understanding of the importance of family values, morals and mutual respect.