SAFE & SUPPORTED FAMILIES

Safe and Supported Families is one of three overlapping teams within the All Children Thrive network. All Children Thrive knows that none of our goals can be achieved if families and children do not have their basic needs met. This team is focused on co-producing initiatives with families to create the circumstances that will allow children and families to thrive, with equity and well-being at the foundation.

Alongside the other network teams (Excellent and Equitable Health Outcomes and Path to Full Potential), the Safe & Supported team shines a light on how factors outside of healthcare and education influence overall health and wellbeing. Unfortunately, too many youth experience hunger, homelessness, trauma, neglect, and abuse. We continue to develop partnerships with families and community organizations to understand and address these critical challenges. Currently there are several neighborhood level projects and strategies supporting the work to promote child and family thriving and well-being.

Neighborhoods as a System: Projects and Strategies

Our Vision:

Every child born into a neighborhood lives, grows, develops, plays, and learns in environments that foster their thriving and limit their suffering. Each neighborhood’s churches, recreation centers, local library branches, and community groups support social connection for children, youth, caregivers, and families – ensuring trusted advice from those with lived experience and reducing the stigma of seeking supports. Neighborhood partnerships and family social networks provide a reliable sensing and early response system to support children and families at higher risk. Families themselves to feel respected, experience a sense of belonging and connectedness, and are a first line support to each other in the neighborhood.

To improve child thriving it will take: 1) a robust cross-sector neighborhood learning system collaborating on production of child health and well-being; 2) a system transformation that creates an anti-racist environment and strong co-production with communities and families.

Related All Children Thrive Publications

• Cultivating Social Relationships and Disrupting Social Isolation in Low-income, High-disparity Neighbourhoods in Ohio, USA

• The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Connectedness and Isolation in Low-Income Communities

• Seven Practices for Pursuing Equity Through Learning Health Systems: Notes from the Field