Over half the sites serve 50- 200 high risk families. Directors affirmed that parents from families considered at-risk have diverse needs. Not all families have the same resource needs nor participation needs. Families cannot always attend meetings because they need transportation, need child care for younger children, have inflexible work schedules, or have court disputes. Directors noted that most of the families are distrustful of anyone on the school staff.
Parents require a variety of resource and developmental needs to perform their job as parents.
Even though directors originally targeted specific protection factors for the children, these foundations were validated consistently by the staff. First was the underlying realization that the home environment affects learning. Directors noted that children proved to be very adept at accepting home and school challenges. When staff realized the complexity of children's stressors, they responded by devoting time to developing trust between the child and the staff members, presenting children with challenges while giving them opportunities to practice making decisions under the guidance and support of a concerned adult. Lessons learned about community involvement Program directors indicate that community school-age care programs need human and financial resources in order to influence change.