Skip to main content

CHIP Priority Area – Family Resources and Support

For every child to grow up in a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment, parents and caregivers need access to resources, services, and support.

In this priority area, two goals were selected.

Goal 1 – Enhance Access to Family Resources: Enhance access to resources and support for families in a way that creates belonging, addresses stigma, and connects families with existing resources.

Goal 2 – Reduce Stigma for Family Support Services: Use data and community driven advocacy to create a culture of openness and acceptance around seeking help and accessing familial support services.

Learn more about each goal below

A mom smiling down while holding her baby close.

Goal 1 – Enhance Access to Family Resources

A parent holding two children while a child runs ahead in a wide open park.

Goal 2 – Reduce Stigma for Family Support Services

Goal 1 – Enhance Access to Family Resources:

Enhance access to resources and support for families in a way that creates belonging, addresses stigma, and connects families with existing resources.

Leadership

Healthy Start Missoula oversees Goal 1.

Objectives and Strategies

Objective 1:

Align in our understanding of parental/familial need for support resources within the Missoula community.

Strategies for Objective 1:

Community partners selected the following strategies to achieve this:

  • Use surveys and listening sessions to understand how parents and caregivers connect to early childhood and family support services.
  • Host an Early Childhood Stakeholders meeting to review relevant data.
  • Utilize the Foster Child Health program at Missoula Public Health to increase health care access for youth in foster care.

Objective 2:

Improve means to connect low-resource families to support services in the community.

Strategies for Objective 2:

Community partners selected the following strategies to achieve this:

  • Expand existing resource fairs for early childhood and parental support services.
  • Improve use of 211 to connect to resources.
  • Increase awareness of LIFTS online resource guide.

Goal 2 – Reduce Stigma for Family Support Services:

Use data and community driven advocacy to create a culture of openness and acceptance around seeking help and accessing familial support services.

Leadership

Zero to Five of Missoula Count oversees Goal 2.

Objectives and Strategies

Objective 1:

Cultivate empowered parent advocates and leaders for action.

Strategies for Objective 1:

Community partners selected the following strategies to achieve this:

  • Provide education and advocacy to parents through the Parent Leader Training Institute.

Objective 2:

Promote the use of data to inform policy, program improvements, and access.

Strategies for Objective 2:

Community partners selected the following strategies to achieve this:

  • Include questions for the next Community Health Assessment (CHA) to determine how parents access services.
  • Use Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) data to educate community about benefits of positive childhood experiences.
  • Determine which KEA questions should be included in the next CHA.