Family Node
Developing healthy families.
Families are key to a child's development. Thus, we need to ensure that our systems are designed to support not only children, but the families that they live with.
Node Leadership
Scaling Family Foundations
The LCT-RN Family node is working to test the feasibility, fidelity and uptake of an innovative evidence based MCH program in two county health departments called Family Foundations.
About Family Foundations
Named as a best practice by AMCHP, and a ‘model’ by the Blueprints evidence-based registry, FF is a co-parenting intervention that consistently improves outcomes for vulnerable pregnancies (e.g., lower likelihood of prematurity); lower parental stress; less parental conflict and physical aggression; while children have shown better self-regulation in infancy; social-emotional functioning in toddlerhood; and fewer mental health and behavior problems, up to ten years post-intervention. By enhancing families’ adaptive relational capabilities and processes, positive family relations are promoted and long-term parent and child health are improved.
Learn more about Family Foundations
Spreading and Scaling
CityMatCH, a network of urban city and county health departments committed to strengthening public health and promoting equity, will identify Title V study sites, selected for their research readiness, willingness to be “early adopters” and serving a diverse population. Drawing on experience gained during similar efforts, CityMatCH will coordinate capacity-building activities, and facilitate shared learning. Using the CityMatCH national network, the node will disseminate findings and scale results to health departments across the US for diverse families and communities. This project has great potential to serve as a prototype for the CityMatCH led dissemination, adaptation, and scaling of other LCT-RN interventions.