Collaborations/ Networking
The Parenting Center (PC) staff serve on The St. Tammany Commission on Families which is a coalition of public and private agencies, businesses, churches, civic organizations and individuals working together to increase the capacity to empower families.
The Parenting Center staff has collaborative relationships with staff from St. Tammany Parish Hospital (STPH), Office of Family Support, Office of Community Services, Northlake Crisis Pregnancy Center, Covington Family Service Center (FSC), and Head Start. The PC enjoys cross referrals from advisory members and other organizations such as the Youth Services Bureau, Volunteers of America (VOA), Northshore Families Helping Families, Early Childhood Support and Services (ECSS), ST. Tammany Parish Schools (Pre-K/La 4 programs), Parenting Center of Slidell Memorial Hospital, local Doctors offices, daycare centers, etc.
The Parenting Center is an educational partner with The Community Wellness Center, The Nurse Family Partnership, the Greater New Orleans Immunization network, La. Chip, and La. Passenger Safety Task Force, as we include pertinent information in the First Steps packets and visits.
The Parenting Center is a provider and serves on the St. Tammany Parish School Board’s Advisory for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers.
Our programs have expanded to include all age groups. Some examples of our programs are Parenting of Teens, Teens and Boundaries, Teens Who are Parents, Parenting of school-aged children, Common Sense Parenting for all ages, 1,2.3,4 Parents, High Risk Preschools, True Colors, and Strengthening Step-Families.
The Parenting Center staff serves on a panel for The Early Childhood Support Services (ECSS), which is a part of the up and coming Infant Mental Health Program. This was a pilot program that had its start in St. Tammany Parish. St. Tammany Parish was chosen due to the increasing number of at risk children in this parish. ECSS is a group of parents, advocates, interested community members, as well as, public and private agencies. These agencies provide services to children ages 0-5 and their families. These are families of children who have multiple risk factors, which have been documented by one of the participating agencies. Some of the agencies involved are Head Start, Early Head Start, St. Tammany Schools, St. Tammany Parish Health Unit (OPH), Office of Family Support (OFS), Office of Community Services (OCS), Department of Health and Hospitals, Community Action, Office of Mental Health, Office for Addictive Disorders, Office of Children with Developmental Disabilities, and YWCA to name a few. The group meets twice a month to provide intensive, comprehensive referrals and services to these families to help them lift themselves out of difficult and sometimes devastating situations. PC has received numerous referrals to our Mom to Mom program and parenting classes.
The Parenting Center director and outreach coordinator serves on an outreach panel for Early Steps (formerly Child Net). Through this affiliation, we are able to gain knowledge, spread the news as a referral to parents of possible candidates for the program, and lend our insight from the variety of needs we see throughout our community.
This past several years The Parenting Center has become more involved with The Louisiana Passenger Safety Task Force and Safe Kids. Both the Executive Director and the Community Outreach Coordinator are members of the Task Force and child safety seat inspectors. Currently, PC hosts child passenger safety inspections each year. In addition, our staff participates in other child passenger safety events throughout the community including St. Tammany Parish, Washington Parish, and Tangipahoa Parish. During these events we distribute parenting information such as Positive Discipline, child safety, and information about parenting classes to people coming for inspections, volunteers, and other inspectors. This information is some of the same brochures and handouts used during First Step visits. Safe Kids provide the child passenger safety brochures "4 Out of 5 Car Seats are used wrong", distributed during the event and for First Steps.
Local and Statewide collaborative and organizations in which Parenting Center is a member and participates includes St. Tammany Commission on Families (Board Member), Early Childhood Support and Services, Nurse and Family Partnership, Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana, St. Tammany Social Service Network, Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Team, West St. Tammany Parish Chamber of Commerce, and Washington and Tangipahoa Social Service Network. Attend Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana (PCAL) annual Conference, Member of PCAL conference planning committee, Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations (LANO) workshops and trainings, National Association for Social Workers (NASW) annual conference, Louisiana Parent Educator Network, and PCAL Trees for Life.