Children of Color Theme : Family Support
Community Conversation Themes:
- Families spoke passionately about the need for family support and parent advocacy and role models.
"Our children would be better served if policy and programs focused on the entire family."
"...We need an ombudsman ... who is from the community... Who within the Governor's office is a voice, -a go-to person for Native issues -- we need to have that contact."
"I would like to see a Life Skills Curriculum that would be available in different settings for parents in our community. This could provide needed guidance on issues like personal responsibility, communication skills, problem solving and making preparations for being in the workplace."
"We need better connections with young moms in our community. In my work I see moms that are around 20 years old with 4 or 5 kids. These young moms get overwhelmed so their kids are out on the streets. We need to help moms think about family planning and abstinence and how poverty makes it so difficult to be a good parent to so many children at such a young age."
"We have a need for role models. At my school, when kids leave within a few blocks they can see drug dealers and rappers and "bling bling" but they're not seeing our African American men who are lawyers and doctors and educators. Our kids need that someone who can give them a sense of purpose."
"Co parenting is an issue. We have so many situations where parents are not in the same household, so the child is subject to different styles and it is hard for the child to have a consistent message. This can often involve the grandparents who might have a lot to say how the child is raised because they often play a very strong role."
"We have a lot of very young parents. Parents that are as young as 13 who haven't themselves had the opportunity to become adults. Our community has historically had children at a younger age, but there are differences which we must acknowledge. It's not just that they are young but there may be other issues in their circumstances like abuse – even sexual abuse. Also there are issues of personal responsibility."
"The Child Welfare System is more and more relying on grandparents to care for children who otherwise might be in foster care. Too often they are not prepared to care for 3 or 4 children. We need better ways to support them in this role."
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