White House Briefing

National Effective Parenting Initiative

White House Briefing
December 12, 2006

A historic briefing to bring a proposal for a federal government Effective Parenting Initiative to the attention of the President of the United States was conducted on December 12, 2006.

The briefing took place at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington, D.C. and was attended by an invited audience of executives from that major White House Office and from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Included was the executive who facilitated the Briefing, the Associate Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families in HHS, Harry Wilson (shown below on far left).

The presentation was delivered by Dr. Kerby T. Alvy (second from left), a Board member of the organization behind the proposal, NEPI, the National Effective Parenting Initiative, and the founder and executive director of the 32 year old, Center for the Improvement of Child Caring in California. Also participating from NEPI was Dr. Karol Kumpfer (far right)of the University of Utah and one of Dr. Alvy’s daughters, Lisa (second from right).

The Effective Parenting Initiative that is proposed was based on a comprehensive conceptualization of the central roles that effective parenting and parenting education play in promoting the healthy growth of America’s 88 million children, and in preventing such costly and tragic domestic problems as child abuse and neglect, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, school drop out, as well as a variety of other health, mental health, learning and social problems.

The briefing included a presentation that covered the history of the proposal, which dates back to the mid-1990s. The purpose of the proposal is to make effective parenting and parenting education societal priorities. The proposal calls for the creation of either a Department of Effective Parenting or a White House Office of Effective Parenting, with a director reporting to the President.

The Department/Office would be supported by a prestigious National Council on Effective Parenting consisting of leaders from all segments of American society as well as leaders from government and private sector organizations with expertise in effective parenting and parenting education.

The policies and programs of the Department/Office and the National Council would be carried out by (1) a Clearinghouse to educate the public about the importance of effective parenting and to celebrate and honor America’s parents, by (2) a Training Center to ensure that all communities have professionally trained instructors and educators that provide high quality parenting and family life skill building programs, and by (3) a research and evaluation Institute to generate knowledge about effective parenting, what can be expected from modern programs, and what will be the cost savings in regard to decreases in human misery and decreases in tax spending for making effective parenting a priority.

Creative ways of funding the proposed Initiative were also shared.

Possible Outcomes of the Briefing

The discussion of the Initiative not only included bringing it to the President’s attention and consideration, but also what could be done through current federal government vehicles. A series of ideas were suggested, including the possibility of the Surgeon General including a parenting initiative as a means of helping to achieve Healthy America 2010 goals, and including a parenting initiative as part of the current Helping America’s Youth program in which the First Lady is involved.

Other Accomplishments of the D.C. Visit

The visit to Washington for this White House Briefing was also used to bring the Initiative to the attention of various members of congress, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has a long history of supporting parenting programs beginning with her being the First Lady of the State of Arkansas.

In addition, the visit allowed for discussions with other national organizations about supporting the Initiative. For example, there was a meeting with the National Consumers League, the 100 year old social and economic justice organization that was pivotal in creating the Children’s Bureau, the first federal government agency devoted to the needs of America’s children.

Briefing Presentation and PowerPoint Charts

To obtain a copy of the presentation that was delivered by Dr. Alvy, click here.

To obtain the Power Point slides that supported the presentation, click below on Part 1 and Part 2.

Part 1 - NEPI's Purpose, History and Plans*

Part 2 - Effective Parenting Initiative

(*Note: This PowerPoint slide show is a very large file and is likely to take several minutes to download, depending on the speed of your connection. Once open, to move through the slides, either left-click/right-click on your mouse or use the page-up/page-down buttons on your keyboard.)

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