• Caring for Kids: What Parents Need to Know about Sexual Abuse
  This consumer-focused resource kit, developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), contains information and fact sheets for parents, caregivers, and adolescents. The kit provides parents and caregivers with tools to help them support children who have been victims of sexual abuse, information on the importance of talking to children and youth about body safety, and guidance on how to respond when children disclose sexual abuse. Also included is advice on how to cope with the shock of intrafamilial abuse and with the emotional impact of legal involvement in sexual abuse cases. Caring for Kids provides adolescents with information about the prevalence of acquaintance rape and tips to help reduce their risk for abuse. It also offers guidance on what to do if they are a victim of acquaintance rape including disclosure, medical attention, and professional counseling. (April 2009)
  
  

• Raising Resilient Children During Tough Economic Times
  This publication, available from the University of Hawaii at Manoa Center on the Family, presents an overview of what parents can do to create an environment that builds resilience in their children during times of economic stress or other hardships. It also presents strategies that parents can use at different stages of their children's development. (2009)
  

• Resources to Help Youth Build Relationships with Parents and Foster Parents
  Below are some resources from Youth Communication to help youth build good relationships with parents and foster parents. Each of these web pages includes the following sections: Stories by Teens, Resources for Teens and Staff, Tips for Staff, and Helpful Links.
  Birth Parents: http://www.youthsuccessnyc.org/birth_parents/index.html
  Foster Parents: http://www.youthsuccessnyc.org/foster_parents/index.html
  

• Healing the Invisible Wounds: Children’s Exposure to Violence
  Healing the Invisible Wounds: Children's Exposure to Violence is a resource to help parents and other caregivers understand the potential impact of exposure to violence on the development of their children. It provides practical suggestions for supporting the healing process. Recommended strategies are tailored to children based on age (birth to 6, 7 to 11, and 12 to 18) and are easily integrated into every day interactions. The booklet is available in English and Spanish and can be downloaded from the Safe Start Center website.
  

• Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids about Being Online
  Published by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), this resource offers parents practical tips to guide their children in navigating the online world. As the guide notes, online means of interaction come with certain risks, including inappropriate conduct, contact, and content. The information that "Net Cetera" provides can help parents empower their children to reduce these risks. This free resource is available via OnGuardOnline.gov, a Web site maintained by the FTC with support from its partners, among which is the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs.

• Don’t Wait: Everyday Actions to Keep Kids Safe
  The most effective prevention happens before a child is harmed. Kids are immediately safer when parents and caregivers take the time to learn about sexual abuse and its warning signs. Parents and caregivers can play a crucial role in a child’s safety by making a commitment to speak up as soon as they have a concern, instead of waiting for certain evidence of harm. This tip sheet by Stop it Now! offers some things that families can do to protect children from sexual abuse.
  

• Strengthening Families and Communities: 2010 Resource Guide
  Developed for service providers, this free guide highlights strategies to strengthen families by promoting key protective factors that prevent child abuse and neglect. It also includes tip sheets in both English and Spanish to share with parents. The Resource Guide is produced annually by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Children's Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Child Welfare Information Gateway, and the FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention. The 2010 guide was developed with input from numerous national organizations, Federal partners, and parents committed to strengthening families and communities.

Curricula

• Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents
  Many children in foster or kinship care have a history of exposure to trauma. Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents is a PowerPoint-based training curriculum from The National Child Traumatic Stress Network designed to be taught by a mental health professional and foster parent as co-facilitators. It includes nine case studies of representative foster children from the ages of eight months to fifteen years, as well as case studies of secondary traumatic stress in parents. With a combination of didactic information and exercises, the training can help resource parents understand the link between trauma and their children’s often baffling behavior, feelings, and attitudes. It gives resource parents practical tools to help their children move forward from their traumatic pasts, to recognize and reduce the impact of their children’s traumas on themselves, and to seek useful support from others. The workshop package includes a Facilitator’s Guide, a Participant Handbook, and a multi-part Slide Kit. (2010)
  

  
  

Websites

• “Time to Talk” and “Time to Act”
  Recent research shows that less than half of teens report that their parents discuss drugs other than alcohol or marijuana with them. Time to Talk is a website sponsored by the Partnership for Drug Free America, and provides information and multimedia tools to help parents and caregivers with the often difficult task of talking about alcohol and other drugs with their children. In addition, the Partnership, in collaboration with the Treatment Research Institute, recently launched a companion site, Time to Act, “a new, first-of-its-kind resource to help parents spot signs and symptoms, have productive conversations with their teens, and find outside help if they need it.” Both websites provide straightforward, science-based information and recommendations grounded in the belief that parents are an influential force in their children’s lives.
  Time to Talk: www.timetotalk.org 
  Time to Act: www.timetoact.drugfree.org

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Parent Portal
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created a Parent Portal to help parents find information to give children healthier, safer lives. The CDC Parent Portal organizes and presents information for parents and caregivers and provides resources from across CDC, in one location, making it easier for parents and caregivers to find what they are looking for. The Portal is a great source of credible, accurate information to help parents and caregivers raise healthy kids and provide safe homes and communities. It also is a resource for diseases and conditions that can occur, and for developmental milestones and schedules. Additionally, the Parent Portal provides information on physical activity, diet, physical and mental health, injuries and violence, peer relationships, and a special section on risk behaviors geared toward the parents of teens.
  www.cdc.gov/parents