For eight-plus years, the Strengthening Families Program has helped parents and children in coastal Pamlico County, N.C., improve their communication, strengthen relationships and reduce the risk of child maltreatment.

The 14-week class taught Richard Henries how to avoid frustration and anger when his three young children misbehave. 

“I picked up little tools like ‘ignoring the bad and praising the good,’” said Henries, who co-parents the children with his ex-wife. “When they act out, I’ll just walk away. Five minutes later, they’re on to something else and have forgotten about it. It really works. The program has been a real big help to me and my family.” 

Pamlico officials said 121 local families have graduated from the Strengthening Families Program. The course has yielded statistically significant, measurable improvement in family stability, resilience and protective factors, reducing the odds of child maltreatment.

Encouraged by such positive results, the local sponsoring agency, Pamlico Partnership for Children, is doubling down. Eligible families who complete the Strengthening Families Program are now being offered additional assistance through a highly regarded in-home services model called Success Coach. A three-year, $637,000 grant from the Endowment supports the addition of Success Coach, which provides families with one-on-one guidance for six to 24 months. 

The new two-step approach, called Partnership Pathways, aims to help families transition from the kind of group-based guided services they receive in the Strengthening Families Program to independently maintaining safe, nurturing home environments, said Susan Bridgman, head of Pamlico Partnership for Children. 

“We have seen the difference in families who completed the Strengthening Families Program,” Bridgman said. However, she added, “at the end of the 14 weeks, it felt like we were dropping them. We saw families wanting more coaching and support.”

Success Coach meets that need. It matches each family with a coach to further support them in setting individualized goals, and teaches them to apply for themselves the skills they learned in the Strengthening Families Program. 

A formal evaluation plan will be developed to measure the effects of combining the two programs. 

Tamika D. Williams, director of the Endowment’s Child and Family Well-Being grantmaking area, called the initiative a good example of how grantees can innovate and think creatively to drive good outcomes even higher. 

“Given the success of the Strengthening Families Program over those first eight years, leaders in Pamlico County could have rested on their laurels,” she said. “However, they asked how they could do even more, and arrived at this innovative approach that offers promise not only for their community, but others as well.”