New family support program offered at Holloman

by Staff Sgt. E'Lysia A. Wray
49th Wing Public Affairs

10/5/2015 - HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Holloman is now one of a few select bases chosen to participate in a one-year trial for a family support program called The Family Check-Up.

The program went into effect July 13.

"It's an exciting new program," said Jerold Wiley, the outreach manager of the 49th Wing Family Advocacy. "It's going to help a lot of families."

The Family Check-Up is a program focused on the support of all the family members.

Wiley starts the check-up with a home visit. Following the visit, he briefs the family on areas to improve. From there, the family chooses the areas they want to strengthen.

Every part of this program is meant to re-enforce positive behavior for both parents and children.

"When you have someone from the outside looking in, the families become more receptive to the feedback," said Wiley. "Because we can do this in the home, the family is more relaxed."

The program was developed after 30 years of research with thousands of families from diverse economic and cultural groups. Family Check-Up program has been proven effective with results in the Journal of Educational Psychology, the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, and the Journal of Family Psychology.

These studies showed the program to improve parenting practices, reduce problem behavior in early and middle childhood as well as adolescence, and reduce mother's depression in families with toddlers, school-age children, and adolescence.

"The Family Check-Up is an everyday parenting program for families with children ages 3 to 17," said Wiley. "I think this program is important because it is difficult being in the military, and we need to get our military families all the resources they can get to survive."

The Family Check-Up is one of several programs offered at Holloman to meet families needs.

The Everyday Parenting program is a companion service to the Family Check-up that outreach managers can provide to parents following a home visit. Everyday Parenting is a step-by-step process to guide parents in strengthening positive parenting skills.