Children First 2005 Conference Summary

Child Welfare

Elected Officials

          ▪ Allocate more funding to affordable day care for children.

            ▪ Make it possible for Social Workers to go on sabbatical to reduce the burn out rate.

            ▪ Improve legislation and laws regarding child support enforcement by enforcing stricter consequences for 'dead beat' parent.

            ▪ Improve public transportation in areas of low income families to make transportation more accessible to child care centers and work sites.

            ▪ Seek feedback from families and mental health patients in order to gain awareness of the impact of the mental health reform.

Community Groups

            ▪ Improve housing assistance by increasing referrals as well as advocating for safe and decent housing. 

            ▪ Collaborate with schools and family focused agencies in order to better understand what resources are most needed in the community.

            ▪ Improve the foster care system by decreasing the length of time for permanent placement of children in the foster care system and assure that children with special needs are afforded the availability of well-trained, well-compensated    foster care.

            ▪ Create more advocacy for Domestic Violence shelters to make it possible for an advocate to work together with DSS as well as law enforcement in dealing with domestic violence cases.

            ▪ Campaign to raise the community's awareness and education in regards to methamphetamines.

 Educators

          ▪ Improve the nurse to student ratio in Buncombe County Schools.  Currently Buncombe Counties nurse to student ratio is 1:8,000 which the 4th is worst in the state.

            ▪ Educate children about danger signs and harmful situations that they might be presented with.  For instance, raise children's awareness of what behaviors by adults are not acceptable and what they should do if a dangerous situation were to arise.

            ▪ Implement parent education programs that hold relevance to issues that families commonly face or might face in the future.

            ▪ Ensure appropriate referrals for families in crises and impart sufficient training for employees to enable them to provide adequate assistance.

            ▪ Encourage parent involvement in their children's education by keeping open lines of communication with families in a non-threatening manner.

Business and Employers

          ▪ Implement a living wage for appropriate jobs.

            ▪ Make child care more accessible by providing subsidized or onsite child care.

            ▪ Encourage and support families with children by creating schedule flexibility to make it more possible for parents to be present in their child's life.

            ▪ Recruit foster families by creating community incentives such as business discounts for families providing foster care and provide information on the foster care system to employees to encourage foster parenting.

            ▪ Offer health insurance at reduced rates for families.

Families

          ▪ Parents Helping Parents!! Parents should partner and work together so that those that have been successful in certain areas can act as a resource for those that might be struggling.

            ▪ Create parent support groups centered around neighborhoods.  These groups could be a means of helping parents find access to emergency babysitting, occasional after school care, etc.

            ▪ Adults that were abused as children should seek services and support in order to break the cycle for future generations.

            ▪ Parent Mentors. Parents can offer education and support for one another.

            ▪ Participate in parenting classes and seek advice and support when in need.