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| Ranking |
Good Idea |
| Description |
The Syracuse Family Development Research Program (FDRP) was a comprehensive early childhood program designed to improve child and family functioning through home visitation, parent training, and individualized day care. The program operated in a single site in Syracuse, New York, between 1969 and 1976, and has undergone long-term assessments of its effects on participants.
The FDRP provided a full range of education, nutrition, health and safety, and human services resources to participating families beginning prenatally and lasting until children reached elementary school age. The program targeted economically disadvantaged families in order to improve children’s cognitive and emotional functioning, create a positive outlook among the children, and decrease juvenile delinquency.
Child Development Trainers (CDTs) visited each family weekly and focused on increasing family interaction, cohesiveness, and nurturing to enhance cognitive development and learning skills. In the Children’s Center (for day care), infants were assigned to a caregiver for attention, cognitive and social games, sensorimotor activities, and language stimulation. The preschool program supported child-chosen opportunities for learning and peer interaction in a space-oriented framework, i.e., specific areas of the Center were designated for specific types of activities. |
| Goal / Mission |
The goal of this program was to improve child and family functioning. |
| Results / Accomplishments |
In a ten year follow-up FDRP graduates were compared with a carefully matched control group. Youth in the control group had significantly more convictions for juvenile delinquency, significantly more severe juvenile delinquency acts (rape, burglary, assault), and a higher rate of recidivism than youth who participated in the program. The control group had 12 court cases (out of 54 youth), costing the community $107,192 while the intervention group had 4 court cases (out of 65 youth) totaling only $12,111. |
| Categories |
Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education
Social Environment / Children's Social Environment
Social Environment / Family Structure
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| Organization(s) |
Syracuse University |
| Source |
Promising Practices Network |
| Date of Publication |
Nov 2003 |
| Date of Implementation |
1969 |
| Location |
City: Syracuse, NY |
| Primary Contact |
Dr. Alice Sterling Honig
Department of Child and Family Studies
College of Human Ecology
Syracuse, University
426 Ostrom Ave.
Syracuse, NY 13244
(315) 443-4296
ahonig@syr.edu
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| For more details |
http://www.promisingpractices.net/program.asp?p...
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| Target Audience |
Children |
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