A Program Offered by DCS to Help Parents Thrive

Parenting children can be overwhelming and stressful at times, but with coaching and practice, being a parent can also be fun and rewarding. Nurturing Parenting works with families to strengthen parenting in the following areas:

• Learning age appropriate expectations of children’s development
• Understanding and supporting the needs, feelings and wishes of children
• Teaching new ways to use non-violent discipline, instead of punishments
• Understanding appropriate parent and child family roles
• Empowering children’s power, independence, and their self-awareness
  

Your NPP Practitioner will use workbooks to share information with you. In addition to the Nurturing Skills for Families workbook, you can choose to use any of the following workbooks to best meet your family’s needs:

• Easy Reader Parent Handbook (if you prefer a book with less reading and more pictures)
• Families in Substance Abuse Treatment and Recovery
• Nurturing Father’s Program
• Nurturing Parenting for African American Families
• LGBTQ Lesson Guide
• Native American Lesson Guide
  
  

HOW DO THESE SERVICES BENEFIT MY FAMILY AND ME?

Nurturing Parenting provides information about child development and parenting, and time to practice the skills that you are learning in activities with your child.
The NPP Practitioner provides lessons to meet your needs and support you to be a nurturing parent. Topics may include:

• How to better handle feelings, stress and anger
  Increasing your personal power and positive self-esteem
• How to better communicate your needs, as well as your child’s needs
• Creating nurturing routines for regular family activities such as bedtime and mealtimes
• Effective discipline techniques, instead of hitting and yelling
• Having warm interactions and fun with others
• Sharing viewpoints, ideas and reactions
• Individual, appropriate lessons to best meet each family member’s needs based on their unique situations
   

WHAT IS EXPECTED OF ME AND MY FAMILY?

The NP Program is short-term, with benefits that will improve your relationship with your child for a lifetime.

Each week, you will meet with your NPP Practitioner to complete:

• 1 hour of parenting support and education
• 30 minutes of activity time with your child to practice your newly learned skills, with the NPP Practitioner there to guide and support you
• 30 minutes with the NPP Practitioner after the activity to talk about what went well and what you want to do differently next time
  

WHEN CAN MY FAMILY GET STARTED?

If your family and the DCS Specialist have made the decision that NPP could benefit your
family, your DCS Specialist will submit a request for services. Once ACT CFS has received your referral:

• Within 2 days of receiving the request for services, the ACT CFS NPP Practitioner will contact you, get to know you and your family, and learn about your needs.
• The ACT CFS NPP Practitioner will meet with you to complete an assessment, which will include answering a series of questions.
• The ACT CFS NPP Practitioner will work with you and your family on creating a plan to
  determine which lessons will best meet your family’s needs.
• The NPP Practitioner will meet with you once a week, for two hours each session, for 17 weeks.
• If needed, services can continue for another 90 days at a time.