EDUCANDO A LA FAMILIA LATINA

• Published date: 01 April 1998
• Author: Gretchen Zegarra
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.174-1617.1998.tb00509.x
• Date: 01 April 1998

EDUCANDO A LA FAMILIA LATINA

Ideas

for

Making Parent Education Programs

Accessible to the

Latino Community

Gretchen Zegarra

This article addresses the issue

of

parent education programs

and

how they are currently

unsuitable

for

the Latino

CO~.~.

It will

discuss

the current trend

in

existing

programs,

as

well

as

problems that might arise in trying to serve a Latino clientele. In particulal; this article

looks

at the Parents Apartprogram currently used in Massachusetts. It will explore

some

possible

solutions

and

ia'eas

for

aaiapting it,

as

well

as

other parent education programs,

to

better serve

the

neeh

of

the Latino community.

THE PARENT ED

TREND:

AN

INTRODUCTION

Court-affiliated programs for divorcing parents have been around since

the mid-1970s.' Since the 1980s, though, these programs have grown and

become more diverse.' These days, 541 counties around the United States

have some

sort of

parent education program in place?

So

much has parent

education grown that

Erne

Magazine

has called it the latest trend in family

courts today.4

These programs have been created to address the impact

of

divorce on

families, especially the children. Parent education programs are generally

intended to help parents address the difficulties associated with divorce and

learn how to improve the experience for their children and them~elves.~

As

the programs become more widespread,

so

do their goals and objectives.

A

study out

of

Michigan by Blaisure and Geasler identified

three

specific

categories of goals: parent focused, child focused, and court focused. Some

examples

of

these goals

are

reducing parental conflict

by

increasing commu-

nication, teaching parenting and coparenting skills, making mediation more

effective, creating a safe environment for the children and keeping them out

of the middle, preventing or reducing the anxiety and other behavioral

problems affecting the children, and, for the courts, reducing litigation by

resolving visitation and custody issues. It has also been found that, although

program content varies,

most

programs emphasize

(1)

postdivorce reactions

FAMILY

AND

CONCILIATION

COURTS

REVIEW, V01.

36

NO.

2.

April

1998

281-293

Q

1998

Sage

Publications,

Inc.

28

1