By Potts Family Foundation
Welcome back to our final blog post in this series. To review previous blogs, it was in August 2023, as part of the statewide project, Know and Grow Oklahoma: Building Resilient Children, Families & Communities, the Potts Family Foundation awarded contracts to 15 communities to survey diverse groups of citizens, including families, extended family members, caregivers, service providers and others who touch the lives of children born from mid-2019 through May 2023, the pandemic years. Following is a recap from the Oklahoma State University Center for Family Resilience (CFR) report.
Nationally, evidence indicates families with children born, right before or during the pandemic had very different early experiences coming into this world and may be exhibiting physical, emotional and cognitive delays. We all know the old adage, “Something good comes from everything.” Although it was difficult to see this in the heat of the pandemic, now that we’ve had time to reflect on those years, of the 15 communities surveyed, many Oklahomans now recognize some of the positives.
In Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog series, we revealed what the CFR at OSU found in the Community Challenges and Community Needs themes. Their findings are categorized into three broad themes with subthemes. We covered the Community Challenges and Community Needs themes. In this third part, we’ll highlight what was discovered in the theme of Community Positive Experiences.
The subthemes that reflected on the positives that came from this pandemic experience are uplifting and should be held onto as we move forward. Family Changes that came about from some of the government assistance helped families according to 64% of respondents. Those changes included the financial benefits from stimulus payments, additional social supports and family togetherness.
For 55% of the respondents, positive changes in Child Presentation were observed as children exhibited better health and typical development, and 43% experienced positive Caregiver Changes such as leaving unhealthy relationships and re-evaluating priorities. Also coming in at 43% was the growth of Community Partnerships and Programs. Many service providers came together to provide additional and much needed supports the pandemic called for. And in times of crisis, ingenuity was at its best as communities collaborated to implement new strategies that helped to improve accessibility.
Next Steps
Community representatives were asked to evaluate the responses to their surveys and use that data as a guide to determine next steps for supporting families with children born around or during the pandemic. Several themes rose to the surface, and they are reflective of the survey responses.
Of the recommendations included in the final narratives communities were asked to submit, 79% indicated child and family focused resources and supports such as screenings, childcare and parenting education that includes healthy approaches for adjusting to post-pandemic related stressors are needed. Providers also need more resources and support in the form of increased compensation and training.
Community initiatives were also recommended 79%of the time. Awareness campaigns that focus on children and family needs, lived experiences, programs focused on mental health and child development and training for providers that incude Early Relational Health and early adversity and protective factors were some of the suggestions. Also mentioned by 43% of the community narratives was working to increase access to resources for families and additional funding for the delivery of quality services to children and families.
For a more in-depth review of the Know and Grow Oklahoma: Community Discovery Report can be found here. To learn more about Know and Grow Oklahoma, visit our website and follow us on social media.