Because babies don’t come with instructions…we are here to help.

Parenting Services

“Bringing families the tools they need to ensure a successful tomorrow.”

Pinnacle Community Services believes that healthy children and families help create a healthy community. Our programs provide a wide range of services to provide parents with the support and education they need to successfully raise their children. Because the early years are so important, our services help children be the best they can be by the time they start school. Services are provided through home visitation and in group and community settings.

For more information or to see if you and your family qualify for services, call 716-285-6984.

Healthy Families Niagara

Healthy Families Niagara is a comprehensive, home-based services program designed to help “at risk” parents meet the challenges of parenting young children and to ensure healthy child development. A family can continue in the program until the child is five years of age or enters Headstart. Healthy Families services are currently available to residents of Niagara and Orleans Counties.

Eligibility

Single and two-parent families who are currently expecting or the parents of a newborn less than three months old are screened by a Family Assessment Worker to determine eligibility.

The goal of Healthy Families Niagara is to:

Ensure that the family’s basic needs are met.
Promote a healthy pregnancy, labor, and delivery.
Enhance the parents’ understanding of healthy child growth and development.
Strengthen the parent-child relationship.
Improve parental skills to optimize the home environment.
Improve the family support system through linkages with other community resources.
Increase the family’s ability to problem solve.
Strengthen the family’s ability to advocate for themselves and their children.

For more information or to see if you qualify for services, call 716-285-6984 to schedule an appointment with the Family Assessment Worker.

Fatherhood Initiative

Children with involved, loving fathers are significantly more likely to do well in school, have healthy self-esteem, exhibit empathy, and pro-social behavior, and avoid high-risk behaviors such as drug use, truancy, and criminal activity compared to children who have uninvolved fathers.

From the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) Website

The objectives of the Fatherhood Initiative are to increase men’s awareness of their importance in the life of their child and to improve their understanding of positive parent-child interaction. Fatherhood services are open to dads, step-dads, non-custodial fathers and father figures living in Niagara Falls or Lockport, whose family members are enrolled in the Healthy Families Niagara Program.

The Fatherhood program provides these “dads” with the support they may need:

To keep up-to-date on healthy child development, discipline and parenting.
To enhance father-child relationships.
To connect fathers with community services, programs and resources.
To provide information and referrals regarding employment, education and job training.

For more information about the Healthy Families Fatherhood Initiative call 716-285-6984.

National Fatherhood Initiative www.fatherhood.org

Group Services

Group services are available to families enrolled in the Healthy Families Niagara program, as well as to other families of young children in the community. Groups are offered on a monthly basis in Niagara Falls and Lockport during the school year. There are no groups in July and August.

Upcoming topics include:

February	Scrapbooking	Everyday Moments
March	Post Partum Depression	Support
April	Taking Care of Yourself	Fitness
May	Spa Day	Stress Relief

United Fathers Coalition

The United Father’s Coalition (UFC) offers support, advice, activities and long-term connections to men who are fathers or father figures of young children.

For more information about the United Father’s Coalition groups and how you can participate call 716-285-6984 and ask for the Father Advocate.

Parent Empowerment Program PEP

Parenting is one of the hardest jobs – 24/7, no sick time, no vacation time and no on-the-job training. The Parent Empowerment Program is designed to teach parents positive ways to discipline children and to problem-solve. These services are provided to parents who are referred by the Niagara County Department of Social Services and, most recently, to parents who are referred from Family & Children’s Care Management Program. The program provides In-Home Parenting and Supervised Visitation services. The Parent Empowerment Program uses an evidenced-based curriculum call Nurturing Parenting that not only teaches parents suitable discipline and parenting techniques but also addresses important topics such as empathy and appropriate roles in the family. The primary goal of the Parent Empowerment Program is “to educate and empower parents to provide safer, more nurturing homes.”

Nurturing Parenting

PEP uses the Nurturing Parent Curriculum when working with families referred to the program The curriculum provides training modules that are family-centered, culturally specific and designed to provide information, enhance skills and build parenting competencies that are specific to the age of the child. Each lesson identifies competencies parents need to learn in order for their parenting practices to improve. Families who complete the Nurturing Parenting Program make significant improvements in their parenting attitudes, knowledge and behavior.

The curriculum focuses on the following objectives:

Building Self-Worth through Appropriate Expectations of Children’s Growth and Development
Developing Empathy and Sense of Caring in Parents and Children
Utilizing Positive, Non-violence Discipline Practices and Techniques
Having Appropriate Family Role Expectations through Self-Awareness
Empowering Adults and Children Through the Development of Personal Power

Working hand-in-hand the parenting worker and family determine where there are strengths and deficiencies within the family. A service plan is then tailor-made for the family, using the skill and competency lessons provided through the curriculum.

Pinnacle’s Program staff members are trained in the Nurturing Parenting Program model, which is a proven, evidenced-based curriculum recognized by (SAMHSA) the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services administration and (NREPP) the National Registry of Evidence-Based Parenting Programs and Practices.

www.samhsa.gov
www.nurturingparenting.com