Family Strengthening for High-Risk Youth

• NCJ Number: 247770
• Author(s): Sharon L. Cantelon
• Date Published: March 1994
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: OJJDP
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This Fact Sheet describes the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP's) initiative entitled "Effective Parenting Strategies for Families of High-Risk Youth," which is an effort to identify family-strengthening programs that are working effectively with either a parent or caregiver of a child or some members of a family, including at least one target child, so as to reduce risk or increase protective factors for a child's problem behaviors.

Abstract

A select group of 450 agencies across the Nation were asked to nominate promising programs deemed effective in strengthening the family's ability to rear children. The agencies represented social services, education, health, mental health, substance abuse, children's services, and juvenile justice. A total of 547 programs were nominated. An assessment of these nominated programs produced 25 intervention strategies and a myriad of variations for strengthening families with children at-risk for problem behaviors. Many of these programs have been formally evaluated. Each of the 25 programs is listed by name under the following categories: family preservation programs, family skills training programs, family therapy programs, parent training programs, probation and rehabilitation service programs, and video presentation programs.