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October 2018Vol. 19, No. 8Five for Families Campaign Aims to Build Family Strengths, Awareness

A Wisconsin child abuse prevention campaign, Five for Families, aims to educate families on the protective resources they have in their community to help keep their children and themselves safe. The goal is to increase statewide knowledge of the Protective Factors Framework, a strengths-based approach to promoting child and family well-being and preventing maltreatment.

The campaign makes the protective factors more easily accessible to parents, caregivers, neighbors, and community members by using everyday language to help families build on their existing strengths in five key areas that correspond to the protective factors:

  • Helping kids understand feelings  (building social-emotional competence in young children)
  • Parenting as children grow (knowledge of parenting and child development)
  • Connecting with others (constructive and supportive social connections)
  • Building inner strength (parental resilience)
  • Knowing how to find help (concrete supports)

The website features a page on each of these areas, including videos of parents who share how the five strengths have benefited their families and how their extended family, friends, neighbors, and the broader community play an important role in building those strengths. The website addresses topics such as why strength matters in families, friendships, and communities. It also explores all five strengths in detail and provides examples of each.

The Five for Families campaign is a universal prevention strategy of the Wisconsin Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, which receives funding from the Federal Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention program. Visit the website at https://fiveforfamilies.org.