Leaders from three Cooperative Extension Healthy Families America demonstration sites met with the Prevent Child Abuse America Kellogg Team to discuss the evolution of their collaborative project at the "Kellogg Summit" held in Chicago on March 19th and 20th.  

In 1994, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation funded the partnership between Prevent Child Abuse America and the Cooperative Extension System (CES) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop a collaborative project with NCPCA's Healthy Families America (HFA) initiative.  The primary objective of the three-year project is to demonstrate the feasibility of building HFA upon the existing CES service delivery system. 

The organizations share a vision regarding the healthy development of all families in the United States, and possess unique organizational strengths that make this partnership compelling.  CES brings its university link, local service delivery network, and experience with research-based educational programming.  Prevent Child Abuse America brings its state chapter network with the knowledge and advocacy skills to bring the project to scale.  Through the Prevent Child Abuse America/CES partnership on HFA, the project is being piloted in three CES sites: Pottawatomie County in Oklahoma, Walworth County in Wisconsin, and three zip code areas in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Process Evaluation Methodology 
The process evaluation examines the implementation and evolution of the Extension HFA demonstration sites, to inform the nation-wide growth of HFA.  Specifically, our major questions focus on:  

• replicability of the program;
• quality of the HFA program;
• quality of HFA training and technical assistance; 
• cost-effectiveness and sustainability of the program; and 
• policy or systems changes resulting from the project. 

Results of the Kellogg Summit and the process evaluation overall will be shared in the upcoming issue.

The Prevent Child Abuse America publication Foster Parenting Abused Children provides an insight into the foster parent-child relationship and offers suggestions on caring for an abused child. The following is an excerpt. 

Research shows that, generally speaking, abused children respond to their experiences in ways that are extreme and difficult for the caretaker to handle. Although, of course, there are individual variations in behavior, some common responses have been noted. 

Some children, for example, become withdrawn when they are abused. They tend to hide, and they don’t like to make the slightest physical or eye contact or to talk to anyone. It is as if they were not interested in people or in their environment. They don’t play, they don’t laugh, and they don’t move around a lot. They prefer to be alone, sleeping, or simply staring blankly. They look depressed. These children sometimes act like babies, sucking their thumbs or rocking themselves. It is hard to draw them out. They may complain of stomach pains and headaches. They may also hurt themselves, by (for example) cutting or scratching themselves until they bleed. They may have trouble sleeping or have nightmares. They may also have eating disorders. 

On the other hand, some abused children respond aggressively. They kick, bite, and punch. Instead of hurting themselves, these children hurt others, and they may destroy property. They fight constantly and are very difficult to control. They always appear to be angry. They may hurt other children, adults, or small animals. 

Another response that has been observed in abused children is that they can sometimes “leave their bodies” and have a “spaced out,” far-away look. When these children become afraid or confused, they often are able to pretend they are not there anymore. When they are not inside their bodies, the abuse does not feel as bad. This is a very complicated psychological process called dissociation. An example of this type of behavior may be seen in the physically abused child who responds to abuse by backing into the wall. When he is leaning against the wall, he can pretend to melt into the wall, and when he is in the wall, the beating doesn’t hurt anymore, because he is cold and hard like the wall.  

Children who are sexually abused often talk about not being inside their bodies, but rather floating on the ceiling and looking down. This dissociation makes the experiences harder for children to remember. Along similar lines, some children who are abused can put parts of their body to sleep, so that they don’t feel pain. While these responses are difficult to understand, they do occur, and it helps to know about them if one is going to try to help abused children. 

Most abused children learn “lessons of abuse.” One of the most common lessons is that people who love you hurt you. Children who begin to feel cared for may expect to hurt again, and this will make them feel afraid. 

In addition, as mentioned earlier, abused children may suffer from low self-esteem. Because they are not living at home, they may feel unwanted or unloved. These children must be given new messages about who they are and what they have to offer. Whenever possible they should be given a chance to do things for themselves. It is important for the caretaker to reward and compliment these children for the things they do well. 

Trying to help a child build positive self-esteem is not an easy task. It is important to be sensitive to the child’s history while getting the point across. Emily Jean McFadden in her training packet for foster parents mentions the following four “rules” for talking to foster children so as to avoid an unwanted reaction: 

1. Although you may disapprove of the child’s behavior, the child is worthwhile. (“I don’t like dirty hands,” not “I don’t like you when you’re dirty.”)
2. Describe the behavior, not the personal characteristics. (“You did not make your bed,” not “You are a slob.”)
3. Be specific. (“You took a dime,” not “You stole.”)
4. Differentiate between feelings and behaviors. (“It’s OK to be angry, but you can’t hit your brother.”)