NYS Parenting Education Partnership

Our Principles

• Parenting means taking primary responsibility for raising and nurturing children.
• “Parent” is intended to include all people who have the primary responsibility for raising and nurturing children.
• Families define themselves and vary in culture, language and structure.
• People learn parenting skills in many settings and from many sources, both formal and informal.
• Families with children of any age can benefit from parenting education, information and supports for healthy parenting and family life.
• The skills parents need evolve and change as children grow.
• Because patterns in parenting are established early, parenting education is especially valuable for people preparing for parenthood, during the prenatal period and when children are young.
• A strong network embraces the many varieties of parenting education programs and provides opportunities for providers to learn from one another and collaboratively promote the value of parenting education.
• Use of evidence and evaluation by parenting education programs is key to good practice, leading to improved outcomes for children.

Effective Parenting Education Programs:

• Recognize families’ insights and beliefs and strengthen their skills, knowledge and support to nurture healthy and successful children.
• Recognize social, interpersonal and environmental impacts on families and have systems in place to connect them with resources beyond parenting education, such as health care, quality childcare and education, safe and affordable housing, and a full range of family support services.
• Include topics such as healthy parent-child interaction, child development, early learning, parent self-awareness and how to access support in the community.
• Use evidence-based practice, research, provider and participant experience to design and improve the program.
• Evaluate their results and make decisions based on data to improve outcomes.
• Benefit from having educators access ongoing professional development opportunities.