6 Protective Factors


Protective factors are conditions in families and communities that, when present, increase the health and well-being of children and families. They are attributes that serve as buffers, helping parents who might otherwise be at risk of abusing their children to find resources, supports, or coping strategies that allow them to parent effectively, even under stress.


Research has shown that these protective factors are linked to a lower incidence of child abuse and neglect.

1. Nurturing and Attachment


A child’s early experience of being nurtured and developing a bond with a caring adult affects all aspects of behavior and development. When parents and children have strong, warm feelings for one another, children develop trust that their parents will provide what they need to thrive, including love, acceptance, positive guidance, and protection.

Sharing Strategies and Resources to Strengthen Nurturing and Attachment

You can share resources available from your agency and throughout the community on how parents can connect with their children, listen to them, and become more involved in their lives. It is important to note that bonding is a two-way street. As children grow and develop the ability to socialize, relate, and communicate, it is easier for parents to respond positively to them. When a child does not show a positive response to the parent (due to age, a disability, or other factors), the parent may need additional support.
Resources to promote nurturing may include information, examples, and opportunities to practice and receive feedback in the areas of:
Impact of nurturing on development
  • Information about infant and toddler development, including brain development
  • The importance of an early secure attachment between parents and young children
  • Information on shaken baby syndrome and sudden infant death syndrome
  • Examples of secure parent-child attachment at all ages
  • Examples of how secure parent-child attachment supports positive child behavior
Parenting strategies that promote nurturing
  • Infant care and strategies that promote bonding and attachment (e.g., breastfeeding, rocking, using a baby carrier, responding to crying, talking lovingly, consistency within and across caregivers, and stability of primary caregivers)
  • Cultural differences in how parents and children show affection
  • What to do when your child has an emotional or behavioral disability that limits his or her ability to respond to parental nurturing
  • Ways to nurture children at every age
  • How fathers nurture children
  • Ways to engage other important adults as part of a child’s "nurturing network"
  • Ways to create and sustain healthy marriages that better support a nurturing home environment for children
  • Ways to create quality time to play with children in the context of daily activities
  • Communicating effectively with older children and resolving conflicts
  • Using positive discipline

2. Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development

Discipline is both more effective and more nurturing when parents know how to set and enforce limits and encourage appropriate behaviors based on the child’s age and level of development. Parents who understand how children grow and develop can provide an environment where children can live up to their potential. Child abuse and neglect are often associated with a lack of understanding of basic child development or an inability to put that knowledge into action. Timely mentoring, coaching, advice, and practice may be more useful to parents than information alone.

Sharing Strategies and Resources to Strengthen Knowledge of Parenting and of Child and Youth Development

When parents share their concerns and perspectives on their children, there is an opportunity to explore solutions and share resources. Educational materials about parenting and child development may help parents more accurately assess their child’s development relative to others of the same age, have realistic expectations for their child’s behavior, and explore ways to communicate those expectations effectively.
Helpful resources for enhancing parenting knowledge and skills may include information and opportunities to practice in the areas of:
Child and youth development
  • What parents can expect and look for as the child or youth grows
  • The ability of children or teens to understand and control their behavior at different ages
  • Addressing developmental challenges such as inconsolable crying, bedwetting, eating or sleeping problems, lying, school issues, problems with peers, and puberty
  • How to keep children safe, including information on shaken baby syndrome, sudden infant death syndrome, childproofing strategies, appropriate child care, and safety in the community
Parenting
  • How a parent can guide a child’s behavior and reinforce desired/appropriate behavior
  • Ways that a parent can model desirable behavior
  • Nonpunitive disciplinary/teaching techniques, such as setting routines and limits, redirecting attention or behavior, and logical consequences for actions
3. Parental Resilience

Resilience is the ability to handle everyday stressors and recover from occasional crises. Parents who are emotionally resilient have a positive attitude, creatively solve problems, effectively address challenges, and are less likely to direct anger and frustration at their children. In addition, these parents are aware of their own challenges—for example, those arising from inappropriate parenting they received as children—and accept help and/or counseling when needed.

Sharing Strategies and Resources to Promote Parental Resilience

When parents identify and communicate what worries them most, there is an opportunity to offer some coping strategies and resources to begin to deal with the stress. Parents are not always aware how their ability to cope with stress may impact their capacity to parent and their children’s development. You can help parents recognize that they can model coping behaviors for their children, since children observe and imitate parents in many ways. Empowering parents to seek help and take steps to combat stress is part of building both resilience and hope.
Some needs are obvious to all family members and to providers. Other needs, such as marital counseling or substance abuse treatment, may become apparent when one family member expresses concern about another. Partnering with the family includes helping all family members translate their concerns into specific needs that can be discussed and resolved. Many community resources and services are available to help families cope. Faith communities, community colleges, self-help groups, and social service agencies can help parents and caregivers develop problem-solving and communication skills that strengthen their ability to deal effectively with crisis, so they can continue to provide for their children.
Resources for building resilience may include information about:
Stress—causes and results
  • How stress happens, including the "little things" that add up
  • Ways to recognize stress and its triggers
  • How stress affects health and coping
  • How stress affects parenting, marriage, and family life
Finding ways to build resilience
  • Stress management techniques, such as regular exercise, relaxation to music, and meditation or prayer
  • How to prevent stress by planning ahead, anticipating difficulties, and having resources in place
  • How to anticipate and minimize everyday stress
  • How to handle major stressors, including accessing resources and supports from family, friends, faith communities, and other community resources
  • Family management techniques, such as effective ways of communicating needs and concerns
  • Programs that offer family-to-family help or mentoring for personalized, intensive, sustained services or support, especially in times of crisis
  • Community supports such as mental health and counseling services, substance abuse treatment, domestic violence programs, and self-help support groups
  • Concrete skill building in areas such as problem solving, goal setting, communication, and self-care

4. Social Connections

Evidence links social isolation and perceived lack of support to child maltreatment. Trusted and caring family and friends provide emotional support to parents by offering encouragement and assistance in facing the daily challenges of raising a family. Supportive adults in the family and the community can model alternative parenting styles and can serve as resources for parents when they need help.

Sharing Strategies and Resources to Strengthen Social Connections

If parents express an interest in making social connections, you may want to offer suggestions, information, or services. Sometimes parents will not identify a lack of social connections or emotional support as an issue. Instead, they may express concern about a child’s behavior problem or their own depression. In addressing the parent’s concerns, you can also provide information about how these needs might be met by connecting with others (e.g., a support group for parents with similar issues). You can also provide general information on how expanding social connections can reduce isolation and support parents.
Consider sharing the following:
Benefits of a broad social network
  • Helps ease the burden of parenting
  • Models positive social interactions for children and gives children access to other supportive adults
  • Provides support in crises
  • Offers opportunities to help others
Ways to broaden a social network
  • Overcome transportation, child care, and other barriers—for instance, taking a bus or carpool to a play group or joining a babysitting co-op to meet other parents and have occasional child care
  • Access community resources, especially those with which the parent has some experience (a church he or she attended, a Head Start program where the child is enrolled, a cultural center that offers services in the parent’s native language)
  • Join a parent’s group or play group in the neighborhood, or start a new group
5. Concrete Support for Parents
Many factors beyond the parent-child relationship affect a family’s ability to care for their children. Parents need basic resources such as food, clothing, housing, transportation, and access to essential services that address family-specific needs (such as child care and health care) to ensure the health and well-being of their children. Some families may also need support connecting to social services such as alcohol and drug treatment, domestic violence counseling, or public benefits. Providing or connecting families to the concrete supports that families need is critical. These combined efforts help families cope with stress and prevent situations where maltreatment could occur.

Sharing Strategies and Resources to Strengthen Concrete Supports

Parents may not always know about community resources that can help meet their basic needs or how to access essential services. Language or cultural barriers may make it difficult for some parents to identify services and make the necessary contacts. Providing information and connections to concrete supports can be a tremendous help to families under stress or in crisis. You might provide contact information (a person’s name is most helpful) or help parents make the initial calls or appointments, depending on what parents say they need.
When specific services do not exist in your community, you may be able to work with parents or community leaders to help establish them. Parents can become powerful advocates for a particular cause, such as low-cost, after-school programs or safe transportation for teens, if they know the process for forming groups and creating services.
Your expertise may be most helpful in the following ways:
Linking families with services
  • Parents may not be aware of services that could help. You can let them know about all available resources, so they may select what is most appropriate for their needs.
  • Parents are more likely to use culturally appropriate services. If you can link them with a service provider who speaks their language or comes from a similar background, parents may feel more comfortable and experience a greater benefit.
  • Parents with many needs may be overwhelmed by the different requirements for accessing various services. A "systems of care" approach may be most useful, in which different helping systems work together to support the family.
Building community services
  • Linking parents with community leaders and others to organize support, advocacy, and consulting groups gives parents the opportunity to use their experience to help others.
  • Parents who go public with their need or cause usually find that they are not alone. The fact that a parent is willing to publicize a need or cause may mobilize the community.
  • Parents who are new to advocacy may need help connecting with the media, businesses, funding, and other parts of the community to have their needs heard and identify solutions

6. Social and Emotional Competence of Children

Just like learning to walk, talk, or read, children must also learn to identify and express emotions effectively.
When a child has the right tools for healthy emotional expression, parents are better able to respond to his or her needs, which strengthens the parent-child relationship. When a child's age, disability, or other factors affect his or her needs and the child is incapable of expressing those needs, it can cause parental stress and frustration. Developing emotional self-regulation is important for children's relationships with family, peers, and others.

Sharing Strategies and Resources to Strengthen Social and Emotional Competence of Children

Parents can help children learn to identify and properly communicate their feelings to others. You can play an important role in helping parents explore and assess their child's emotional and social development with some of the following strategies:
  • Help children understand their emotions by first giving the feelings names and then encouraging them to talk about how they are feeling.
  • Use pictures, books, and other visual elements to help the child understand his or her emotions.
  • Give children opportunities to suggest different ways he or she can deal with feelings.
  • Teach children the different methods for responding to feelings, conflicts, or problems such as taking deep breaths, stepping away from the situation to calm down, or asking an adult for help.
  • Praise the child for healthy emotional expression.
Parents can also:
  • Provide the child with responsive care.
  • Be affectionate and nurturing.
  • Help the child feel the joy found in the "give and take" of relationships.
  • Show the child that he or she is part of a large network of love.
  • Nurture the child's respect for differences.
  • Promote an appreciation of their culture and the culture of others.

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