The Strengthening Families Through Early Care & Education Initiative is an approach to preventing child abuse and neglect by supporting families through childcare programs. The Center for the Study of Social Policy developed the framework for Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education Initiative. The fundamental principle is that certain protective factors contribute towards family resiliency and strength. These key protective factors are Parent resilience, Social connections, Knowledge of parenting and child development, Concrete support in times of need, and Healthy social and emotional development.
Early Care and Education Centers play a prominent role in building these protective factors among the families they serve. Through seven key strategies, centers become well positioned to help families build these protective factors that have proven to be effective in preventing child abuse and neglect. This approach uses early childhood programs to build evidence-based protective factors for children and their families. This is a strength-based approach which builds on existing assets to keep all families strong and all children safe.