Padres Unidos Np

Strong Families

Padres Unidos, in collaboration with Orange County Department of Education and the Office of Restorative Justice offers five different programs to strengthen families of youth at different levels.  These programs overarching goals are to improve communication and cooperation between families, the Probation Department, the larger juvenile justice system, and their communities. These programs increase family resilience and promote the reintegration of incarcerated youth into their family and society, while promoting a culture of shared responsibility and education.  Our Programs:  - Family Support and Information Program: (supply community worker support) - Parent Outreach and Education Program - Parent and Teen Conjoint Program - Parent Mentor and Ongoing Support Program 

Community Engagement

In 2010, Chapman University’s College of Educational Studies joined forces with Padres Unidos to develop Community Workers Award program. Based in shared goals and the desire to become authentic partners with local communities, schools, teachers, students, and parents, this program has evolved to become a model to build community capacity, affect real change, and make a positive difference. Participants spend the first year of training with Padres Unidos, working directly with children and families and rotating through different areas and roles. During their second year, participants begin take courses hosted at Chapman University on topics such as leadership, ethics, group dynamics, domestic violence, child abuse, and crisis intervention for Community Workers. Once these core courses are successfully completed, the students then take module classes with emphasis in child/teen development, case management, parent educator, and small group facilitation.

Reaching Out with Love Circles - Community Support

6 weeks ( 2 weeks of Reach Out & 4 Focus Groups) This “Reach-Out effort will help inform community partners with regard to the how our most vulnerable immigrant families experience the current state of affairs. This will not only help inform current community partners with how we can best strategize and support our vulnerable immigrant families, but also participants and their families will have a safe space to be seen, heard and voice their rising fears. Our focus groups will leverage and strengthen the entire family system- more importantly allow us to hear from the family directly. We provide age appropriate child-care to allow participants the opportunity to attend. Child and Youth educators structure the child-care leveraging developmentally appropriate activities. Our evidence and trauma-informed approach is grounded on the importance of family systems and attachment. We understand that for our communities to thrive- their parents and families must thrive alongside them. Our skill-driven, trauma-informed and opportunity-focused “Love Circles” provide families with strength- based & solution-focused dialogue guided by research showing that a wide range of assets, like housing stability, immigration stability, food security, and a safe and supportive community, promote good outcomes for all especially our children. We will leverage Padres Unidos’ “Love Circles” as an invitation to dialogue and explore current and future resources and other essential skills parents and families may find helpful. Many of our parents and participants themselves have experienced childhood adversity and other migration related traumatic events that inform how they perceive their communities. All our staff are former recipients of Padres programs stemming from the communities we serve. Furthermore, all our staff and volunteers have received training through our two year Community Worker Award Program an educational partnership initiative between Padres Unidos and Chapman University. This two-year training takes a culturally diverse approach to crisis intervention, ethics, group facilitations, leadership development and more. The program draws together resources, assets, and wisdom from both of these organizations for the purpose of developing rigorously educated and informed grass-roots parent leaders in the local community for the purpose of social betterment and advocating for change in their communities.

Parents as Teachers/School Readiness

To address barriers to early education at school and home, Parents as Teachers/School Readiness provides weekly 3-hour classes that incorporate in-classroom school readiness strategies for 3.5 to 5-year-olds and parenting skills trainings. Lessons for children are based on our school readiness curriculum entitled Structured Playing for Learning Purposes, an in-classroom plan that encourages socio-emotional and academic learning with activities that include learning to follow instructions and pre-STEM education and more. Padres Unidos’ program is unique in that we closely integrate early education for children with parent education. In addition to building children’s school readiness, the program aims to equip parents and caregivers to continue nurturing learning in the home and community environment. Furthermore, by instituting a culture of engagement in education early, Padres Unidos helps parents become engaged partners throughout their children’s formal education.