When most people think about helping children, they picture responding to a problem that is already visible: a child struggling in school, a family in crisis, or a young person facing emotional or behavioral challenges. Those interventions are critically important. But after more than three decades working with children and families, the University of Miami’s Mailman Center for Child Development has shown that some of the most valuable work happens long before a problem ever appears.
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Prevention and early intervention eliminate issues before they are created. This is the best possible outcome, yet prevention can be difficult to appreciate because its greatest successes are often invisible.
When it comes to first responders, we understand the importance of firefighters, paramedics, and rescue personnel who respond when disaster strikes. We invest in fire alarms and sprinkler systems because early detection saves lives. But the best outcome is when a fire never starts at all.
That belief is at the heart of The Children’s Trust of Miami-Dade County’s investment in parenting and family support programs across the community. One of the first programs funded by The Trust – which was created by voter approval in 2002 as a dedicated source of revenue dedicated to children and families from property taxes – was Families First at the Mailman Center.
It was an innovative approach that focused on identifying parents experiencing stress and connecting them with the level of support they needed before challenges escalated into child abuse and other crises. Rather than asking families to come to us, we partnered with churches, synagogues, schools, community centers, and neighborhood organizations to bring services directly to where families lived, worked, and gathered.
Since its inception, Families First has served more than 9,000 families. It is just one example of how The Children’s Trust has consistently invested in prevention and early intervention as a strategy to improve children’s lives.
Today, Trust-funded parenting initiatives provide families with a range of supports that meet them where they are. Some parents simply need reliable information and guidance. Other families may need more intensive services to address significant stressors, developmental concerns, or behavioral challenges.
Tens of thousands of children and their families have benefitted from therapeutic, evidence-based parenting skill development programs like Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), UM Team COACH, and, over the past decade, The Children’s Trust Parent Club.
The Parent Club is The Trust’s partnership with UM’s Miller School of Medicine, Florida International University, Be Strong International, and others to bring free workshops to the community in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. The workshops are open to all parents and caregivers and offer practical tools, expert guidance, and parent interaction. Just last year, more than 20,000 individuals participated in nearly 1,800 workshops throughout the county.
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Programs like Parent Club recognize that parenting is one of the most important jobs anyone will ever have, but it does not come with an instruction manual. Parents have questions. They face stress. They encounter challenges that can feel overwhelming. Providing trusted sources of support can make all the difference.
Other programs like JumpStart and the School Health initiative have expanded these approaches to child care centers and schools, empowering teachers, counselors, and community members to become a workforce for future well-being.
These Trust-funded programs have several things in common. They take advantage of the expertise at our local universities and colleges, they involve close collaboration with community partners, and most importantly, their primary goal is the prevention of developmental, behavioral, emotional, and mental health problems that may be a future risk for many of our community’s children.
We know that these parenting programs have saved lives. The infant mortality rate for Black babies in Miami-Dade County before their first birthday is double that of the overall county. Research shows that programs focused on strengthening parent knowledge and skills are changing this.
We live in a community that deeply values our children. When we think of the many things that funding from The Children’s Trust has improved in our community, it is important to take a moment to recognize that the greatest impact of The Trust is not the problems it has helped fix, but the ones that it has helped to never be seen in the first place.
Alongside Fire-Rescue, Law Enforcement, and Emergency Management, The Children’s Trust and its investment in prevention is truly one of our community’s first responders.
Dr. Daniel “Danny” Armstrong is Director of the University of Miami Mailman Center for Child Development and a nationally recognized expert in child development, neurodevelopmental disabilities, behavioral health, and family support services. For more than three decades, he has worked with community partners and The Children’s Trust to develop evidence-based programs that strengthen families and improve outcomes for children throughout Miami-Dade County.
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