Family Strengths Program
The Family Strengths Program is designed to teach and reinforce techniques, which
enable women to strengthen family relationships and begin to address the complex
issues that have interfered with their ability to create safety for themselves
and their children. Most of the women utilizing our services have histories of
physical and/or sexual abuse, homelessness, and poverty. ROW's Family Strengths
Program works to reduce the incidence of abuse and violence by providing a full
assessment of the problems in the home, by teaching new skills, by giving
opportunities to apply these new skills with their children, and through
providing feedback about that application.
ROW's Family Strengths program operates from a feminist perspective, focusing on
the economic/social context in which women find themselves and building upon
their current strengths as women and as parents. Our program allows women to
give voice to their own articulations and struggles – and works to reinforce
techniques that make sense to each participant.
Components of our Family Strengths Program include a comprehensive education
class that focuses on areas such as:
- how to play with your child
- effective limit setting and responding to non-compliance
- handling misbehavior and other prevention responses
The class also focuses on personal self-development, domestic violence issues,
developing self-awareness and self-esteem. In addition to the class component,
other interventions of our program include individual advocacy and support while
women are in the FS class, PACT time for parents and their children to play and
interact together, peer enrichment classes that provide opportunities for women
to engage with each other around various topics, and opportunities for ongoing
advocacy once they have completed the 5 week FS class.
Childcare is provided on-site for children ages 0-6, while women are in class.
ROW will also provide women with one bus ticket per class.
How to Access Services
FS has open enrollment, however, there are certain classes that cannot be a
participants first class. These are: Intimate Partner Violence, Dynamics of
Abuse, Sexual Safety and Rape, Child Sexual Safety and Assault.