Strategy

Family Foundations

What is it?

Family Foundations is a psycho-educational and skills-based program designed to help prepare pregnant couples and new parents for the physical and emotional challenges of parenthood by building a strong team approach to positive parenting. Family Foundations focuses on building parents’ individual and co-parenting skills to support positive child development. The program covers emotional self-management, conflict management, communication, and problem-solving. Family Foundations is conducted in a group format over the course of eight sessions. Sessions are carried out through presentations, couple exercises, worksheets, videos, and group discussions. 

What is the evidence base?

Families that participate in Family Foundations experience less conflict and stress than families who do not participate, including improved co-parental support and family interactions, lower levels of negative parenting and co-parenting, lower levels of maternal depression and anxiety, and lower levels of distress in father-child relationships. Children in these families demonstrate enhanced less frequent internalizing behavior issues and improved social-emotional competence, self-regulation skills, and academic competence. 

• Feinberg and Kan_2008_Establishing Family Foundations Intervention Effects
• Jones et al_2019_Family and Child Outcomes 2 Years Ater a Transition to Parenthood Intervention