Families come in all shapes and sizes.
And when families thrive, so do children.
But, sometimes families and children struggle.
The Academy for Child and Family Well Being at the
University of Nebraska–Lincoln wants to help all
families live healthy and fulfilling lives.
When the youth is functioning well in the community,
that youth and family are functioning equally as well.
The Academy for Child and Family Well Being forges
unique partnerships on projects that help families and
children succeed.
One of those partners is Boys Town.
The Nebraska-based organization provides residential
and community resources for at-risk children and their
families across the country.
Boys Town and UNL joined forces to provide
evidence-based research on strategies that work.
What we're trying to do is build the evidence base for
these programs so that we know that they work, so
we know with whom they work, and we have the
resources to continue to expand and serve
more kids and families.
It has become a very large, natural laboratory and
everybody benefits.
Research measures the effectiveness of programs
like On the Way Home.
Bre'anda Lee spent two years at Boys Town. An On
the Way Home family consultant helped her adjust
when she returned to the community.
If it wasn't for the On your Way Home program, I
would probably be back in the system.
My family wouldn't be where they are today without
that program.
In our first randomized trial, we found that kids in On
the Way Home were three times more likely to stay
at home and five times more likely to stay in school
than kids not receiving the program.
UNL research also teams up with public schools to
study health literacy among teenagers and to connect
parents of children with behavior problems to parents
who have had similar experiences.
You're showing them someone else has been through
this. Someone else understands me. I mean ... really
understands me.
This is a federally funded study by the Department of
Education to see just how does this work for families.
What are the effects of a program like this and how
can they make it sustainable?
The Academy also prepares a new generation of
professionals.
Students at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
benefit from hands-on experience.
We teach them how to work with applied research –
it's an opportunity that they haven't had before so that
when they leave here, they've got employment skills,
leadership skills, they've got networking they didn't
have before.
Just as families come in many forms, solutions aren't
one size fits all.
Finding ways to help families succeed takes research,
collaboration and a passion for helping others.
It makes the University of Nebraska–Lincoln stand
out in the national research community.
The Academy for Child and Family Well Being – only
at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.