Why is this an issue for Oklahoma?

Family and child resilience programs are designed to educate youth and adults to help foster healthy families and lifestyles. Below are some statistics from Oklahomans that family and child resilience programs can address:

• More than 4800 (3.85%) of all females aged 15-19 in Oklahoma gave birth in 2014 (2nd highest rate in U.S.).
• 1/3 of Oklahoma families live in single-parent households.
• Oklahoma ranked 4th highest in 2015 for teens who have ever drunk alcohol (63.5%) and 1st for male teens drinking 10 or more drinks in a row (9.3%). Oklahoma incarcerates the most women per capita of any state, leaving many children without their mother.
• More than 14,000 children in Oklahoma in 2014 were confirmed victims of child abuse and/or neglect.
• Oklahoma ranked 3rd in 2015 divorce rates.
• Approximately 25% of high school students do not complete school, with higher rates among minority youth.
• More than 524,000 Oklahomans are caring for a loved one, providing over 488 million hours of care.
• While many Oklahomans expect to care for a loved one in the future, 41% do not know who to turn to for help with caregiving.

---

---

Family & Child Resilience Programs

• Active Parenting - responsive parenting to promote positive parent-child relationships and communication plus non-punitive discipline to prevent child abuse and neglect and help children avoid risky behavior and be successful in school and relationships. Programs include First Five Years; School Age (5-12); Teens.
• Caregiving Education - Out of the millions of family caregivers, over 80% say they do not have enough information to successfully take care of someone. The Caregiving Education program attempts to close that gap through education families on six areas: introduction to caregiving (what is caregiving, available resources), home safety, maintaining healthy relationships with your loved one and other family members, proper nutrition, finances, and prevention of elder abuse and exploitation.
• Character Critters - A story and activity approach to teaching character to preschool and kindergarten children. The program teaches six concepts of character: responsibility, trustworthiness, respect, caring, fairness, and citizenship. Character Critters aims to increase the understanding of character concepts in children, parents, and the community.
• Co-Parenting for Resilience - Evidence based program that helps divorcing or separating parents reduce the negative impacts of divorce on their children. Fulfills the Oklahoma state mandated requirement for 4 hour divorce education. Available in English and Spanish.
• Families and Mental Health - Program centers on the connection between mental health issues and roles, rules, and boundaries within relationships and family systems and ways that families can actively work towards improving health and wellbeing.
• Family Impact Seminars - A series of seminars, discussion sessions, and briefing reports provide state policymakers with nonpartisan, solution-oriented research on family issues such as after-school programs, children’s health insurance, early childhood care education, juvenile crime, and welfare reform. The Family Impact Seminars were created to better connect research and policy, and to promote a family impact and racial equity lens in policy making.
• National Issues Forums - These forums offer citizens the opportunity to join together to deliberate, to make choices with others about ways to approach difficult issues and to work toward creating reasoned public judgment.
• PREP for Married Partners - Evidence based program to increase couple communication, reduce conflict, and enhance overall relationship satisfaction. For married or engaged couples.
• Smart-steps for Step-families - Program designed to help step-families understand the differences between step-family formation and traditional nuclear family formation; and to help them be successful.
• Strong Dads – Program that aims to strengthen the father-child connection by utilizing an evidence-based, 12-week curriculum (24:7 Dad) and engaging fathers through character building content and exercises, coaching for success, and connecting with other fathers.
• Take a Stand (Bullying Curriculum) - Program focuses on five main areas to stop bullying at school: conflict management, communication, etiquette, teamwork and cultural awareness. Weekly lessons for 1st through 12th grades.
• Unidos Se Puede - Program promotes positive youth development through increasing family engagement, youth personal agency, and positive peer affiliations. Available in English and Spanish.
• Within My Reach for TANF Recipients - Evidence based program that helps participants evaluate the health of their relationship and increase relationship skills.