The Parent Project

By David Hernandez, Director of Community Service and Parent Resource Centers

DESPITE THE AVAILABILITY of parenting self-help books, sometimes parents need more support and coaching, th​a​n books or manuals can provide​, main­ly due to children being prone to challenging behaviors not covered in typically available publications. Parenting education programs offer multiple benefits to parents (and other primary caregivers) and children. Parents stand to develop new skills that can lead to increased competence and positive parenting practices, while children indirectly benefit from changes or improvements in their parents’ behaviors. Parenting education programs teach parents how to keep their children healthy, safe, and ready to start school or be successful in their academic pathways with cognitive, social, and emotional skills needed to learn. Madera Unified School District is proud to participate in a fruitful collaboration with city and county agencies to deliver highly practical Parent Project® programs that serve and support parents raising strong-willed children. The Parent Project is a community-based parenting skills program adopted in Madera County. The program works directly with parents to help improve children/adolescent school attendance and performance, reduce family conflict, and develop healthy in-home prevention and intervention strategies. The Project Project is comprised of two independent programs, *Loving Solutions* (Parents with children 5-10) and *Parent Project Jr. *(Parent​s​ with children 11- up). The partnership consists of The City of Madera Police Department, Madera County Probation Department, Madera County Community Action Partnership, Ministerial Association, Madera County Behavioral Health, and Madera Unified School District’s Parent Resource Centers. The collaborative with the designated agencies have been instrumental in leveraging resources such as securing grant funds to support a facilitator training, the designation of appropriate instructional classrooms, the provision of program materials, interagency referrals, childcare, food, and sharing in the day-to-day oversight of the program that has been the cornerstone for the success of the Parent Project. Families may be referred by partnering agencies or self-referred. Referrals are accepted anytime during the year. Feel free to download the program flyer and referral forms by using the QR Code below or email davidhernandez@maderausd.org. The referral form has been created as a PDF “fillable form” to make it user-friendly. For additional information, please contact the Department of Parent Resources at 559-419-58​42​. Madera Unified School District is committed to helping families raising children in today’s complex society and offering parents ongoing practical and emotional support to prevent truancy, dropouts, drug use, early teen sexuality, violence, youth gangs, or runaways. We are equally committed to helping parents improve communication, relationships, and support students​ to​ stay concentrated on their academics and experience a definite success in their overall school and community interactions.