- § 12351. Findings and purpose
- § 12352. “Family resource and support programs” defined
- § 12353. Establishment of National Center on Family Resource and Support Programs
- § 12354. Evaluation
- § 12355. Authorization of appropriations
§ 12351. Findings and purpose
(a) Findings
Congress finds that—
(1) fundamental changes in the demographics and economics of family life in the United States over the past 20 years have had a profound effect on children and their parents;
(2) since 1966, the number of women working outside the home has increased by 92 percent and the number of two earner families has increased by over 50 percent;
(3) 61 percent of the children born today will live in a single-parent family before reaching the age of 20, with one out of every three single female heads of households living on income below the Federal poverty level;
(4) one out of every four children under the age of 6 in the United States currently lives below the Federal poverty level;
(5) over the past 10 years, parents have increasingly come together with other parents to organize family resource and support programs that promote healthy child development and increase parental competency, particularly families at risk; and
(6) Federal investment in promoting the development of family resource and support programs will reap long-term benefits for individual families and the nation as a whole.
(b) Purpose
It is the purpose of this part 1
1 See References in Text note below.
to—(1) stimulate the development and expansion of family resource and support programs that are prevention oriented;
(2) encourage early intervention of such programs with families to ameliorate problem situations before such situations become crises; and
(3) assist parents in enhancing their children’s development to ensure that their children enter school prepared and ready to learn.
(Pub. L. 101–501, title IX, § 956, Nov. 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 1278.)
§ 12352. “Family resource and support programs” defined
As used in this part, the term “family resource and support programs” means community-based services that offer sustained assistance to families at various stages in their development. Such services shall promote parental competencies and behaviors that will lead to the healthy and positive personal development of parents and children through—
(1) the provision of assistance to build family skills and assist parents in improving their capacities to be supportive and nurturing parents;
(2) the provision of assistance to families to enable such families to use other formal and informal resources and opportunities for assistance that are available within the communities of such families; and
(3) the creation of supportive networks to enhance the childrearing capacity of parents and assist in compensating for the increased social isolation and vulnerability of families.
(Pub. L. 101–501, title IX, § 957, Nov. 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 1278.)
§ 12353. Establishment of National Center on Family Resource and Support Programs
(a) Establishment
(b) Functions
The national center established under subsection (a) shall serve as a national information and data clearinghouse, training, technical assistance, and material development source for family resource and support programs. Such center shall—
(1) develop and maintain a system for disseminating information on all types of family resource and support programs and on the state of family resource and support program development, including information concerning the most effective model programs;
(2) develop and sponsor a variety of training institutes and curricula for family resource and support program staff;
(3) identify several programs representing the various types of family resource and support programs to develop technical assistance materials and activities to assist other agencies in establishing family resource and support programs; and
(4) develop State-wide networks of family resource and support programs for the purpose of sharing and disseminating information.
(Pub. L. 101–501, title IX, § 958, Nov. 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 1279; Pub. L. 103–252, title IV, § 403(a), May 18, 1994, 108 Stat. 673.)
§ 12354. Evaluation
The Commissioner shall, through grants or contracts awarded or entered into with independent auditors, conduct evaluations and related activities, of family resource and support programs, including—
(1) evaluations of on-going programs;
(2) process evaluations focusing on implementation strategies; and
(3) the development of simple evaluation models for use by local family resource and support programs.
(Pub. L. 101–501, title IX, § 959, Nov. 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 1279.)
§ 12355. Authorization of appropriations
(a) Establishment of Center
(b) Evaluation
(Pub. L. 101–501, title IX, § 960, Nov. 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 1279; Pub. L. 103–252, title IV, § 403(b), May 18, 1994, 108 Stat. 673.)