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A program new to El
Dorado County may be the place to start for parents who need help with
communicating, reconnecting and generally improving relationships with
their teenagers.
The Parent Project, a model program for the parents of teens,
started its first local session of classes in February of this year. The Parent Project was
created in 1987 in Pomona, California by a team of professionals who were
concerned about the youth in their community.
The project began as a collaborative effort between the Pomona
Unified School District and the Pomona Police Department. Three individuals, Susan Mejia-Johnson, a high school
teacher, Ralph “Bud” Fry, a policeman, and Dr. Roger Morgan, a child
psychologist, were key founders and co-authors of the project. Since its inception, the
Parent Project has received several awards, including the Distinguished
Program of the Year and The Governor’s Crime Prevention Award for the
profound effect it has had on communities.
Where the Parent Project has been implemented, juvenile crime rates
have decreased by at least 15%, youth have elected to stay in school
rather than drop out and families have remained intact and functional.
95% of parents who have completed the program have been successful
in keeping their children safe, in school and out of gangs, and off
harmful substances including drugs and alcohol. Today, Mejia-Johnson, Fry
and Morgan continue to train other professionals to establish Parent
Project programs in communities all over the country.
To date, over 700 communities across the U.S. have Parent Project
leaders and programs in operation. In El Dorado County, four
individuals have completed the intensive training and are planning the
first Parent Project sessions for local parents.
Dr. Jeannette Boltz, former executive director of Family
Connections, is spearheading the program.
John Ruport, a resource teacher at Oak Ridge High School, Sharyl
Davis, a parenting expert with Marshall Hospital and Choices for Children,
and Jane Van Camp, a special education teacher with the Placerville School
District are trained and ready to start the program. The Parent Project
program is a parent-centered, cooperative course of 10-16 evening classes
that guide parents through the building of intervention strategies and
communication tools. The goal
is to renew relationships between parents and their own sons and
daughters, and to build family partnerships that support the youth of the
community. Parents who have
completed the program are extremely pleased with the results.
One parent said, “We thought we had tried everything. We were wrong. This
program works!” A companion program
called Loving Solutions,
developed by the same team, has been equally successful.
Loving Solutions is geared toward parents with children 5-10 years
old who are beginning to act out and show signs of at-risk behavior, or
have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD.
Both Loving Solutions and the Parent Project are built on the love
parents naturally have for their children, and on the value of parent
partnerships and community support. Marshall Medical and
Marshall Hospital Foundation sponsor the Parent Project. The Foundation will serve as the fiscal agent and fund
scholarships for the program. “We are so thrilled to
be working with such a valuable parenting program in our community,”
said Karen Good, executive director of Marshall Hospital Foundation.
The
next session of the Parent Project begins April 25.
For more information contact Dr. Jeannette Boltz at 530-647-1800,
email jboltz@jps.net, or access www.fftf.net. |
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Marshall
Foundation for Community Health . P.O. Box 1996, Placerville, CA 95667 (530)642-9984 |
