Transcript Family Risk Factors

Communities That Care
What is Communities That Care?
(CTC)
• “Operating system” that focuses on risk and protective
factors to provide structure for community efforts to
address youth issues.
• Addresses:
– Substance abuse
– Delinquency
– Teen pregnancy
– School dropout
– Violence
Community Risk Factors
• Availability of drugs
• Availability of firearms
• Community laws and norms favorable to drug use,
firearms, and crime
• Media portrayals of violence
• Transitions and mobility
• Low neighborhood attachment and community
disorganization
• Extreme economic deprivation
Family Risk Factors
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Family history of problem behavior
Family management problems
Family conflict
Parental attitudes toward, and involvement
in, substance abuse, crime, and violence
School Risk Factors
• Early and persistent antisocial behavior
• Academic failure in elementary school
• Lack of commitment to school
Individual/Peer Risk Factors
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Alienation and rebelliousness
Friends who engage in problem behaviors
Early initiation of a problem behavior
Constitutional factors
Individual Protective Factors
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Gender
Resilient temperament
Positive orientation
Intelligence
Positive Factor: Bonding
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Parents and families
Other significant adults
Teachers, school
Peer groups
Organizations
Community
How Protective Factors Counter
Risk
• Individual characteristics provide a foundation for
healthy behavior
• To develop or enhance individual characteristics,
children and adolescents are given a chance to
contribute to their families, schools, and
communities. Youth need:
– Skills
– The opportunity to contribute
– Recognition for their contribution
How Protective Factors Counter
Risk (cont.)
• Contribution leads to bonding
• For a bonded child or adolescent, the
provision of healthy beliefs and clear
standards furnish the structure and
corrective feedback needed for positive
development
• Ultimately, this progression leads to healthy
behavior
Advantages to the CTC Approach
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Grounded in theory and practice
Inclusive and participatory
Takes a community perspective
Involves training at every step
Provides a menu of “best practices” from which to
choose
• Is adapted to its own needs by each community
• Includes evaluation and adjustment as an integral
part of any effort
• Seems to work for most problem behaviors
Disadvantages to the CTC Approach
• Only inclusive and participatory for certain people
• Allows the choice of only a finite number of
approaches
• Choosing from “best practices” may encourage
communities to merely follow directions rather
than throwing heart and soul into the effort
• Narrowly focused
• To a certain extent, based on assumptions
• Has a service to sell
Who should be involved in CTC?
• People directly affected by the problem
behaviors
• People affected indirectly by the problem
behaviors
• Community leaders and decision-makers
• Those with community interest
• The media
How do you employ the CTC
approach?
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Awareness
Education
Community mobilization
Community assessment
Prevention plan development
Program implementation
Outcomes evaluation
Community Assessment
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Youth survey
Census and accompanying GIS data
Archival records
Direct contact with youth and other citizens
Resources to Support the CTC
Approach
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Money
Expertise
People
Avenues to reach youth