The Strengthening Families Washington Strategy from the Department of Early Learning lists five protective factors known to help reduce childhood abuse and neglect.  WCC Cooperative Preschool and Parent Education Program provides all five protective factors to families, increasing odds of success for children, families and the community.

The co-op model supports the Five Protective Factors:

1. Parental Resilience
   Managing stress and functioning when faced with challenges, adversity, and trauma. Every Co-op class is supported by both a classroom preschool teacher and a parenting educator. One job of the parent educator is to build relationships with caregivers and children.  Caregivers have a safe place to talk about challenges and get knowledgeable advice to support their children from a person who knows their child.  They also develop a community of caregivers that they can turn to for support.
   
   
2. Social Connections
   Positive relationships that provide emotional, informational, instrumental and spiritual support. Working in the classroom together, contributing to the operation of the Co-op Preschool and attending parent meetings and socials together builds social connections between caregivers in each class, within a preschool site and throughout the entire WCC Co-op Program.
   
   
3. Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development
   Understanding child development and parenting strategies that support physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional support. The parent educator assigned to each class provides a wealth of this information through 9 monthly parenting education meetings, weekly interaction and role-modeling in the classroom, as well as individual problem-solving and coaching with parents as requested.
   
   
4. Concrete support in times of need
   Access to concrete support and services that address a family’s needs and help minimize the stress caused by challenges. Parent educators have a long, tried and true list of community resources that is offered to caregivers when issues arise.  Having built relationships with caregivers, educators are able to help them navigate systems – family counseling, early language and behavioral screening, family law, etc.
   
   
5. Social Emotional Competence of Children
   Family and child interactions that help children develop the ability to communicate clearly, recognize and regulate their emotions and establish and maintain relationships.

This is one of the primary jobs of parent educators and preschool teachers.  Preschool teachers integrate social emotional learning skills and activities into every class.  Parent educators support caregivers as they gain knowledge, understanding and expertise helping their children learn to self-regulate, identify emotions and problem-solve social situations.  Instructors do this through direct instruction, experiential activities and real time classroom role-modeling and support.