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About NCPEN
- Background on
parenting education
- Parenting Education
in North Carolina
- Who conducts
parenting education?
- Why NCPEN was
formed
- NCPEN Vision
- Current
Areas of work
- Points of
contact
Background
on parenting education
Based on research about healthy families, parenting
is known to be pivotal to healthy family functioning and is defined
by positive parent behaviors exercised through appropriate parental
control, guidance, modeling, and involvement of the children (Fine
& Henry, 1989). Parent education takes on many facets -- focusing
on increasing knowledge and awareness of parenting roles (Zoline &
Jason, 1985; Powell, 1986); increasing coping skills (Halpern, 1987;
Pfannenstiel at al., 1991), and increasing confidence (Powell, 1986).
Parent education, as a generic term, encompasses a wide range of program
delivery methods and sources of information involving processes and
techniques of teaching and learning, in both formal and informal settings
(Harman and Brim, 1980). The goal of parent education, taken from an empowerment
model, is to provide assistance and support to parents in order for
them to promote optimal growth for the children in the family (Harman
& Brim, 1980) and to focus on risk prevention by building on parent
strengths (Wandersman, 1987). To deliver parent education programs
that meet the needs of parents and to evaluate the effectiveness of
these programs, consideration must be given to parent demographic
characteristics, educational delivery preferences, informational needs
of families with children, and community and familial support systems.
The challenge for parenting educators is to incorporate these many
aspects into multidimensional educational support and evaluation plans
for parents.
Parenting Education
in North Carolina Support for all parents should be available on a continual
basis and offered in multiple forms to meet the diverse family and
cultural needs of the parenting population of North Carolina. With
changes in family demographics and increasing needs to balance work
and family parenting education is critical. In addition, parenting
education has been identified as prevention method to respond to multiple
social problems such as child abuse, juvenile crime, and teen pregnancy.
Communities, social agencies, court systems and other service organizations
refer parents for parenting education, yet referral is not an easy
task. Locating knowledgeable parenting educators, particularly in
rural areas is difficult. Often those who are asked to offer parenting
education lack expertise in delivering services and education to diverse
parent audiences. Additional resources and a professional support
mechanisms for accessing information to assure the delivery of parenting
education to meet broad and specific parent needs is necessary. Currently there is not a cohesive parenting education
delivery system in North Carolina. Parenting education is known to
be sponsored by community agencies, religious organizations, courts,
public and private schools, mental health, public health, Smart Start
partnerships, Department of Social Services, Cooperative Extension,
hospitals, senior centers, Family Resource Centers, Head Starts, businesses
and employers, professional affiliate groups (NAEYC, NCFR), Department
of Public Instruction, the Family Support Network, Adolescent Pregnancy
Prevention Coalitions, United Ways, YMCA/YWCAs, private agencies and
therapists, PTAs, child care programs, preschools, colleges and universities,
and various civic groups. All parenting education programs are not
accessible by all parents. Some programs are fee-based and some are
free. Some parents enroll in parenting programs because of particular
needs. Some parents don't realize such programs exist. Some parents
are referred by courts and mandated to attend parenting classes. Parent
education programs for parents with children under 5 years of age
out number programs for parents with school-age and teen children.
There are many gaps and perhaps a few overlaps in parenting education
programs and services from county to county. Having multiple organizations
delivering parenting education is not an overwhelming concern, however
the lack of a professional support structure, common research base,
or accessible teaching and resource materials presents a great concern
in meeting the growing need for high quality parenting education in
North Carolina. NCPEN has a great interest in assuring that there
is one strong effort to support parenting education in the state.
Creating awareness among key decision makers to inform them about
this growing effort is a priority.
Who conducts parenting education?
There is a concern that a professional credential
for individuals teaching parents is not available. There are various
ways to obtain instructional information about child development,
family studies, and parenting practices. Several two and four-year
colleges and universities offer undergraduate and graduate degrees
that have parenting courses included in the child-related, family-related,
or social work curriculum. Although there are a few opportunities
to earn a national parenting education certification (ie., Parents
as Teachers, Certified Family Life Educators through the National
Council on Family Relations), there is not a consistently recognized
parenting education certification process for the nation or in North
Carolina.
How NCPEN was formedUnder the leadership of Dr. Karen DeBord, The North
Carolina Cooperative Extension Service has organized a dialogue between
organizations and agencies who provide parenting education programs
for parents across the state. As a state child development Extension
Specialist, Dr. DeBord recognized the need to collaboratively discuss
and plan ways to address parenting education across the state. The dialogue between parenting educators was initiated
by Dr. DeBord through a survey asking representatives of organizations
offering parenting education if they were interested in exploring
collaborative projects to bring cohesion to parenting education in
North Carolina. The response to continuing dialogue has been overwhelmingly
positive. Very active monthly working meetings have been convened
since October, 1996. The group of 25 plus professionals is developing
a collaborative relationship to focus on parenting education. The
growing network is calling itself the North Carolina Parenting Education
Network (NCPEN). The North Carolina Parenting Education (NCPEN) includes
representatives of various agencies and organizations. These professionals are working together to develop
a networking system to strengthen the delivery of high quality parenting
education in North Carolina. All the representatives agree that parenting
education is a supportive response to various parenting roles-- grandparenting
and other kinship parenting, single parenting, co-parenting, foster
parenting, teen parenting. Since this collaboration is new, discussion
is in its infancy, but strides are being made to develop definitions
and design a total plan to address the many facets of parenting education
in North Carolina. A few ad hoc groups across the nation are attempting
to bring professional cohesion to this growing profession. Although
parenting educators have not been defined by any of these groups at
this point, NCPEN is in favor of carefully watching national trends
for available national definitions and standards to guide certification
processes.
Why was a network formed?
The people who came together to discuss parenting
recognize that parenting educators desire to affiliate and network
with others in their profession. Such professionalism and cohesion
leads to greater access to high quality materials that will allow
for more strategic growth in the state in parenting education in North
Carolina and potentially unfold a continuum of educational programs
for parents. Although some counties have human service coalitions
or partnerships with parenting education components, NCPEN believes
that one centralized planning group could encourage high quality educational
programs and disseminate high quality research-based information,
develop and deliver more training programs that devote time to training
diverse audiences, and design systems to evaluate parental learning.
To meet diverse needs, attention must be paid to the stage of parenting,
age of child, family type, and cultural origins among other parent
and child attributes. It is critical to match what parents need with
what and how educational programs and services are offered.
NCPEN Vision The North Carolina Parenting Education Network (NCPEN)
facilitates statewide linkages among parents and other partners
to encourage positive parenting practices.
- The term partners is meant to be broadly
inclusive of all those who play an important role in a child's life.
This may include grandparents and other kin, single parents, step
parents, foster parents, co-parents, teen parents, guardians, and
other caregivers.
Current
Work
In 2001, the network moved from a voluntary loose network
to a membership organization with
elected officers and bylaws.
Local networks began to form across
the state. This was a success in the eyes of the early planners as
the field began to grow. In 2002, a parenting
educator credential was piloted Now there are over 100 credentialed parent educators. Two parent educators forums are held each year.
Points of contact
Chair: Karen Schrader
Co-chair: Ed Brown
Past Chair: Karen DeBord
Secretary: Jill Walls
Treasurer: Phyllis D'Agostino
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