Family Advocacy promotes positive parenting with new programs Published Aug. 19, 2015 By Senior Airman Benjamin Raughton 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- Team Barksdale's Family Advocacy has added two new programs for Airmen and their families. The Family Check-Up and Everyday Parenting programs foster strengths-based family management, positive parenting and child development. "FCU is a family-centered intervention that promotes positive child and youth behaviors by improving parenting practices and enhancing the quality of all family relationships," said Russell Cook, 2nd Medical Operations Squadron Family Advocacy outreach manager. "Developed from 30 years of research, the FCU has demonstrated its effectiveness in key areas associated with positive child adjustment. It's effective for helping both caregivers and youth from 3 to 17 years old." FCU's goals include improving parenting practices with positive behavior support, monitoring, setting limits and reducing problematic behavior in youths in early and middle childhood and throughout adolescence. "The [Family Check-Up] program can be utilized during home visits and in the office," said Capt. Kenneth Marfilius, 2nd MDOS Family Advocacy element chief. "It enhances parent motivation and engagement by utilizing the Everyday Parenting curriculum. The curriculum is a step-by-step process guiding parents in strengthening positive parenting skills." Everyday Parenting is based on the needs and strengths of each family and can be tailored to a group of parents or individual families. "The best thing about Family Check-Up is that it has higher rates of family engagement and achieves better outcomes with fewer sessions than other family intervention services," Cook said. For more information, contact 2nd MDOS Family Advocacy at 318-456-6595.