Program Philosophy

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Nurturing America's Military Families Parenting Program is specifically developed to improve the nurturing parenting skills of families of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers in the military.

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The program is based on the philosophy, goals, and structured sequence of lessons of the validated and proven Nurturing Parenting Programs®.

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The philosophy underlying the program is that military families referred for or seeking to improve their parenting skills should receive education and intervention designed to meet their assessed needs.

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With the Nurturing America's Military Families Parenting Program, parent educators and parents work cooperatively to tailor-make programs to meet the assessed needs of all families.

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Program Design and Implementation

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The New Parent Support Program (NPSP) model of the Military Families Nurturing Program is culturally adapted to address the uniqueness of parenting when one of both parents is on active duty. The NPSP is referred to as a competency-based program.

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NPSP Home Visitor's Instructional Manual (MILHVIM-CD) contains 55 individual lessons in parenting presented in the 5 parenting constructs that represent the sub-scales of the AAPI-2:

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Construct A: Appropriate Expectations of Children

Construct B: Developing Empathy in Parents and Chldren

Construct C: Discipline with Dignity

Construct D: Self-Awareness and Appropriate Family Roles

Construct E: Empowerment and Independence

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Seven individual lessons address issues facing parents while they or their partner are actively serving in the military:

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1.  The uniqueness of Military Life

2.  Keeping the Relationship Together

3.  Deployment and Separation

4.  Helping Children Cope with Deployment

5.  Staying Connected

6.  Reuniting: Post Deployment

7.  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

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Assessments (The Nurturing Skills Competency Scale and AAPI-2 are available online at AssessingParenting.com)

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• The Nurturing Skills Competency Scale gathers information about the parent.

• Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2) gathers information regarding the beliefs parents have about raising children in 5 individual parenting areas.

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Evaluation (Included on a CD attached to the MILHVIM-CD):

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The Family Nurturing Plan (FNP) is a document Parent Educators use to measure the progress the parents are making.

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The Family Nurturing Journal (FNJ) is a document the Parents use to monitor their progress in learning the programs competencies.

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Results of Program Implementation 

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Data gathered from the Implementation of the Nurturing Parenting Program for Military Families has been requested from the U.S. Department of Defense. The findings will be posted when permission is granted.