"I am less likely to hit and scream at my children. I use different discipline techniques and they work. I learned a lot about how being raised can and will affect adulthood and raising my own children. Keep on doing what you're doing – it works!"




The goal of the Families United Network is to help families be safe, strong, stable and nurturing and to allow children and parents to grow to their full potential. Using a guided self-help model, parent support groups—including a group specifically for Spanish-speaking parents and a group specifically for parents who are consumers of mental health services—are offered weekly in which parents may discuss the current issues in their lives that are or could potentially affect their parenting. As a member of the National Support Roundtable Circle of Parents, this program follows a national model that has been shown to be an effective tool in the reduction and prevention of child abuse and neglect. At any given time, approximately 95% of participants are voluntary members of the program. These parents often come to this program due to feelings of isolation, a desire to parent differently than they were parented, mental health issues in themselves or their children, and/or parenting a child with special needs. This program is offered free to participants and, while open to all parents and their families, tends to serve parents in poverty or on the margin. During the two evenings of programming, groups are provided for the teens and adolescent children of support group participants. Childcare is provided to children under 5 years old, and for all children during daytime groups. The children/teen groups provide activity based programming that is fun but also teaches basic skills, such as making and keeping friends, appropriate display of emotion (especially anger), and, for the teens, decision-making and basic age-appropriate life skills.