Media Contact: Roxanna Foster, Director of Civic Parent Leadership
Telephone number: 651-523-0099 Ext 118
Email: rfoster@pcamn.org

Parents Lead the Way to Strengthening Families

Saint Paul, Minnesota, February 18, 2009 – February 2009 has been designated National Parent Leadership Month. Circle of Parents®, a program of Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota, will be joining forces with other national and local organizations to recognize, honor and celebrate parents for leadership roles in their homes and communities.

Governor Pawlenty has officially proclaimed February 2009 as Parent Leadership Month in Minnesota. To promote Parent Leadership Month in Minnesota, Circle of Parents, Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota, The Minnesota Association for Family and Early Education, Minnesota Children’s Platform Coalition, Minnesota Head Start Association, MN Parental Information and Resource Center, Minnesota Parents and Teachers Association, National Center for Parents as Teachers, Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota, St. Paul Network of Education Action Teams, and Southside Community Health Services, are pleased to be Co-hosting a press conference on Monday, February 23, 2009, at the Minnesota State Capital, at 12 noon, in Room 125. The event will be celebrating the great contributions parents make to our communities, recognize professionals and parents partnering in Minnesota to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. 2009 Parent Leadership Awards will be presented, as well as Governor Pawlenty’s Proclamation to celebrate February as Parent Leadership Month.

National Parent Leadership Month was created to:

• Educate the public about this vital family strengthening and community building strategy; and
• Encourage professionals, policymakers and other community members to create opportunities to partner with parents to address issues that affect children and families.

Parents, grandparents, kinship care providers, foster parents, and anyone in a parenting role who has personal experience in using resources and/or services to strengthen their families, have the potential to become Parent Leaders. “Recognizing parent as leaders is an essential component to effectively strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect,” says Roxy Foster, Director of Civic Parent Leadership, Circle of Parents (a program of Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota), “Better outcomes for families are achieved when parents have the opportunity to use their knowledge and expertise through meaningful and active roles in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of programs that affect families and children. Parents find themselves accomplishing things that may have seemed impossible before.”

Throughout the country, parents and professionals are working together in new ways. They are participating in local, regional and national planning processes, collaborating as grant reviewers and program evaluators, and serving together on advisory boards and coalitions. Across Minnesota, Circle of Parents® is joining with Parents Anonymous® Inc., the nation's oldest family strengthening and child abuse prevention organization and the founder of National Parent Leadership Month, to honor anyone in a parenting role who has taken steps to provide leadership in their home or community or at the state or national level.

For more information about activities related to National Parent Leadership Month, please contact Circle of Parents® Minnesota, 1821 University Avenue, Suite 202-S, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55104. The contact person is Roxy Foster, Director of Civic Parent Leadership, at 651-523-0099 ext 118 or e-mail rfoster@pcamn.org.

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Established in 1979, Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota (PCAMN) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides child abuse and neglect prevention efforts to Minnesota families and to child abuse prevention workers and volunteers in our state.  A mainstay of its efforts is a network of parent and child support groups (called Circle of Parents®), a service it has provided to Minnesota families since its inception. PCAMN also hosts the 1-800-CHILDREN help line, publishes and distributes parenting and abuse prevention materials, and produces child abuse and neglect prevention training programs year round, including Minnesota’s annual child abuse prevention conference each April.

For more information about PCAMN, contact Connie Skillingstad at (651) 523-0099, ext. 117, e-mail at cskillingstad@pcamn.org, or visit www.pcamn.org.


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