- How can we work with families most effectively?
- What does it mean to be a quality Family Strengthening and Support program?
- How can Programs use the Standards to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion?
This Certification Training details how the nationally-adopted Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support can enhance work with families through focus on 5 areas of practice: Family Centeredness, Family Strengthening, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Community Strengthening, and Evaluation. Whether you are program staff setting up a new program or strengthening an existing one, or a funder developing or monitoring programs, the Standards provide a blueprint for implementing best practice. In follow-up surveys at 3 months and 9 months after the Certification Training, more than 91% of respondents indicated that the Standards enhanced their Program's work with families.
Teams of Executive Directors, Managers, Coordinators, and Direct Service staff are highly encouraged to participate together in the Training, because each has a key role to play in implementing the Standards effectively. Participants who successfully complete the training will receive a certificate from the National Family Support Network, valid for two years. More than 12,400 people across the U.S. and Canada have successfully completed the Certification Training to date.
The Standards are used across the country by public departments, foundations, networks, community-based organizations, and families as a tool for planning, providing, and assessing quality practice. Based on the Principles of Family Support Practice and the Strengthening Families Framework and its research-based evidence-informed 5 Protective Factors, the Standards have created a common language across different kinds of Family Strengthening and Family Support programs such as Family Resource Centers, home visiting programs, and child development programs.
