Prevention Board

Over the past 20 years the Prevention Board has developed and maintained the Wisconsin Core Competencies for Family Support Professionals, which outline the standards of knowledge and practice for the field of family support. These standards are important to distinguish the unique role and expertise of this field whose practitioners are found primarily in family resource centers (FRCs) and other family serving organizations in Wisconsin. In addition, there are a number of corresponding tools that aid in the application of the Core Competencies within professional practice. 

As a compliment to the Core Competencies, the Prevention Board, together with partners including FRC direct service providers and leadership, developed the Wisconsin Family Support Professional Code of Ethical Conduct.  This code of conduct provides guidelines for professional behavior within the daily practice of family support programming benefiting families and children. These guidelines outline, for both the public and members of the profession, the principles and values that guide professional practice for family support staff.

In order for providers to be able to acquire the knowledge and training that they need to obtain the Core Competences, they require access to professional development opportunities that are aligned with them. The Wisconsin Family Resource Center Professional Development System is designed to offer educational opportunities and trainings tailored specifically to meet the needs of family support program professional staff and leadership within FRCs as well as other family serving professionals. FRC PDS offers three categories of trainings: foundational trainings that all staff need to understand the frameworks and principals that guide their work and interactions with families, trainings that support the practice and competency of each individual employee and meet their specific educational needs, and program trainings that prepare family support staff to offer a particular parent education program.

The Strengthening Families™ Protective Factors Framework​  is foundational for the work of the Prevention Board. Consequently, the Board seeks to ensure that all professionals whose work it funds are proficient in understanding and implementing this framework within their own work. The Bringing the Protective Factors Framework to Life in Your Work training​ consists of six two-hour courses designed to provide family serving professionals with a deeper understanding of the Protective Factors and guidance in exploring ways to incorporate them into work with families. The courses are hands-on and interactive, providing an in-depth summary of each protective factor along with practice strategies and tools. Each course of the training is co-facilitated by a parent co-presenter. Eighty percent of the staff in Wisconsin Family Resource Centers of Quality complete this training. 

The Prevention Boad online learning library contains links to a series of fatherhood focused webinars developed through a partnership between the Prevention Board, Dr. Tova Walsh from the University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Social Work, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty.