Carver's Mission

CARVER CENTER FOR FAMILIES

Our Mission

The Carver Center for Families (CCF) strives to preserve, strengthen and celebrate families.

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The CCF Framework

As a family resource center, the Carver Center for Families exists to strengthen both family and community. The Center’s focus on families is based upon the Strengthening Families Framework and its Protective Factors, an approach first introduced by the Center for the Study of Social Policy in 2005.

To ensure that this Framework and its Protective Factors have impact, the Center will measure its work according to the National Family Support Networks Standards of Quality, https://www.nationalfamilysupportnetwork.org/. The Protective Factors and Standards of Quality are defined below.

Protective Factors

The Strengthening Families Framework encourages families and communities to focus on 5 key protective factors that improve family stability and healthy child development and reduce child abuse and neglect. In partnership with caregivers, families, and community members, the Carver Center for Families seeks to build and support these protective factors:

Parental resilience: Managing stress and functioning well when faced with challenges, adversity and trauma.

Social connections: Positive relationships that provide emotional, informational, instrumental and spiritual support What is the Protective Factors Framework? Protective factors are characteristics or strengths of individuals, families, communities or societies that act to mitigate risks and promote positive well-being and healthy development. Most often, we see them as attributes that help families to successfully navigate difficult situations. 

Knowledge of parenting and child development: Understanding child development and parenting strategies that support physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development.

Concrete support in times of need: Access to concrete support and services that address a family’s needs and help minimize stress caused by challenges.

Social and emotional competence of children: Family and child interactions that help children develop the ability to communicate clearly, recognize and regulate their emotions and establish and maintain relationships.

NATIONAL FAMILY SUPPORT NETWORK:

Standards for
Family Strengthening & Support

To ensure that families are strengthened and supported through quality practice, the Carver Center for Families utilizes the National Family Support Network's Standards of Quality to evaluate its work.

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The 5 domains and high quality indicators of the FRC model are...

1. FAMILY CENTEREDNESS

Working with a family-centered approach that values families and recognizes them as integral to the FRC.

  • The FRC’s design supports partnering with families to have an active role in the development and implementation of the programs and services.

  • The FRC is structured to increase its accessibility to meet the unique needs or circumstances of families.

  • The FRC partners with families to develop and maintain a welcoming environment for families, promoting their sense of ownership.

  • The FRC implements an outreach plan to engage potential participants with intentional strategies and committed resources.

  • The FRC implements policies, procedures, and provides benefits that address staff members’ family needs and interests.

2. FAMILY STRENGTHENING Utilizing a family-strengthening approach to support families to be strong, healthy, and safe, thereby promoting their success and optimal development. • The FRC’s staff members partner with families to implement a formal process to assess and document their existing strengths, resilience, and resources.
• The FRC implements a formal process to gather information about families’ concerns, priorities, and resource needs. Program partners with families to set goals, formally facilitates families’ access to services and activities, and has a system to provide them with follow-up support.
• The FRC provides professional development for staff members to strengthen their knowledge and skills for supporting healthy family development.
• The FRC is designed to provide activities that support the healthy development of families.  The FRC designs activities, events, and services that successfully engage multiple family members.  The FRC supports families to create their own opportunities to build social connections with each other for resource sharing and mutual support.
3. DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION Valuing, respecting, and embracing families’ diversity, and advancing equity and inclusion. The Family Resource Center respects, values, and embraces the diversity of families, including their ethnicities, cultural traditions, languages, values, socioeconomic status, family structures, sexual orientation, religion and spirituality, individual abilities, immigration status, and other aspects. • The FRC utilizes formal structures to be responsive to multiple aspects of the diversity of families.  The FRC provides professional development to support staff members to learn about and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• The FRC implements formal structures to support families to learn about and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• The FRC implements formal systems and practices to reflect on diversity, equity, and inclusion on an ongoing basis.
• The FRC implements formal systems and practices to adapt to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.
4. COMMUNITY STRENGTHENING Developing a strong and healthy community by working collaboratively with various stakeholders and supporting families’ civic engagement, leadership development, and ability to affect systems change.
• The FRC has a formal structure to address community issues and priorities.  The FRC creates formal partnerships with other service providers and community organizations to strengthen families and communities collaboratively.
• The FRC supports families to address community issues and priorities.

• The FRC implements a formal structure to partner with families to develop their leadership skills, and to facilitate opportunities for using those skills in the community.
5. EVALUATION Looking at areas of strength, as well as areas for further development, in order to guide continuous quality.
• The FRC analyzes results of annual self-assessment utilizing the Standards of Quality for Family Strengthening & Support Program Self-Assessment Tool and other appropriate assessment tools and makes appropriate modifications.
• The FRC analyzes and shares feedback regarding quality with families and other stakeholders, such as service provider partners. Appropriate program modifications are made as a result.

• FRC analyzes data on participant and program outcomes and utilizes it to demonstrate accountability to stakeholders, make modifications, and to inform policy change as needed.