Children at Risk

The Center for Parenting and Family Well-Being (CPFWB) advocates to change the way parent education and child abuse prevention is approached. The CPFWB believes that organizations should come together to create a framework that strives to provide all parents in our community with effective and accessible parent education. The CPFWB collaborates with and supports organizations that provide parent education courses to ensure that the infrastructure, policies, and partnerships are in place to improve availability. Using the design and curriculum of the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P), our approach targets all families, not just high-risk ones. Triple P has an established record of success on improving the parents’ mental health as well as decreasing rates of social, behavioral, and emotional disorders in children. This program is a multi-tiered approach, providing parents with necessary levels of support through group classes and/or individuals consultations.

An estimated one out of every three children that run away from home is lured into sex trafficking within 48 hours of leaving home. CHILDREN AT RISK has led the fight to change state policy around the modern day form of slavery known as human trafficking. Having passed key pieces of legislation, including two omnibus bills, CHILDREN AT RISK has worked hard to identify specific solutions to help victims escape their life of exploitation and abuse. CHILDREN AT RISK is committed to raising awareness and educating the community on this heinous crime through media outreach, continuing legal education conferences for attorneys/judges and policy luncheons across Texas, and human trafficking summits. Additionally, we publish, The State of Human Trafficking in Texas, a comprehensive publication including data on the scope of trafficking, services available for victims, and legal remedies for child trafficking in Texas.

The Center for Child Health Research and Policy (CCHRP) is a collaboration among CHILDREN AT RISK ([email protected]), Doctors for Change, and Rice University’s Kinder Institute. The CCHRP strives to improve the health of children through a three-pronged approach: research, advocacy, and community outreach. This approach focuses on access to healthy food, obesity prevention, and access to care. In 2013, [email protected] successfully advocated for and helped pass SB 376, which requires schools with populations of ≥80% economically disadvantaged students to provide Universal School Breakfast (USB). Since our work with this initiative began, [email protected] has guided 22 school districts to offer USB to more than 629,000 students. Public awareness increases participation rates to ensure that more students start their day nourished and ready to learn. In 2014, the CCHRP will be conducting studies on school health, creating a positive environment for physical activity, and hosting frequent educational events for the community.