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Creating Lasting Family Connections (CLFC) is the dissemination version of Creating Lasting
Connections (CLC). CLC was a program developed by the Council on Prevention and
Education: Substances (COPES) in Louisville, KY. In 1989, COPES was awarded a 5-year
demonstration grant to implement and evaluate CLC in church communities in Jefferson, Meade,
and Nelson Counties in Kentucky. Modifications were made to the CLC model for
implementation with universal, selected or indicated populations, as well as in other settings. The
Program goals are to: 1) increase community engagement through implementing a successful
family recruitment strategy, empowering participants to successfully implement the program and
its evaluation; 2) improve participating parents= knowledge and attitudes
regarding drug issues, and improve their family management skills; 3) increase the knowledge and use of community
services, including treatment and rehabilitation services, among participating families when needed; 4) improve the
communication and refusal skills of participating youth; and 5) delay onset and reduce frequency of alcohol and
drug use among participating youth. Creating Lasting Family Connections is designed to be implemented as a
universal, selective, or indicated program for families with youth ages 9-17.
Creating Lasting Family Connections is designed to be implemented through a community system,
such as churches, schools, recreation centers, and court-referred settings, which have significant
contact with parents and youth, have existing social outreach programs, and are linked with other human service
providers. The training is modular in design. Several of the modules are designed to allow the participants to
create the topics and the depth and detail of their discussion. This framework provides for a variable level of
program intensity. Thus, the type of implementation is largely determined by the collective needs of the
participants, and the skill level of the trainers. Each of the six individual training modules is a
5-6 week (2.5 hours a week for parents; 1.5 to 2 hours a week for youth) module with the exception of
the Optional Getting Real: Parent and Youth Combined Module, which typically requires about three 2.5 hour sessions.
For maximum effectiveness, parents and youth are engaged in all four modules consecutively and simultaneously (for
an 18-20 week period). However, the CLFC program modular design creates opportunities for several
implementation options. The program can be spread out over a longer period of time, with families participating
in 5-week increments spread throughout the year, for example. The three separate parent and youth
trainings can also be conducted separately and spread out over time as needed. The CLFC program is in the form of
six curriculum, with manuals for trainers, poster sets, and a set of participant notebooks for each of the six
modules. The curriculums are designed to be self-contained and user friendly.
Published evaluation results show there were several significant positive direct
effects on several risk and protective factor outcomes, and positive impacts on
ATOD use and delayed onset of ATOD use as moderated effects. The major
outcomes for Risk/ Protective Factor Outcomes are: 1) increases in knowledge and
healthy beliefs about alcohol and other drug (ATOD) information by parents; 2)
increased youth involvement in setting and following family ATOD rules; 3) increased
use of needed community services by families; 4) increased bonding with family
members (parents); 5) increased leveling (honest and deep) communication; 6)
increased use of community services by youth. The major outcomes for ATOD
Outcomes are as follows: a delay in the onset of youth alcohol and other drug use
was moderated by: 1) increased knowledge and healthy beliefs; 2) decreased
conflict between parents and children; and 3) increased family communication. A
decrease in frequency of alcohol and other drug use was moderated by: 1)
increased ATOD knowledge and healthy beliefs; 2) decreased likelihood that
parents would punish youth for misconduct; 3) decreased family pathology; 4)
increased leveling communication about ATOD use; 5) increased bonding with
father; 6) increased use of community services for family problems; 7) decreased
rejection of conventional values; 8) increased youth involvement in setting non-ATOD
family rules; and 9) increased leveling communication about schoolwork.
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Implementation Costs:
Total materials cost is approximately $1600 and includes all curriculums, participants
notebooks, posters, and custom evaluation kit. Minimum staffing requirements
include two trainers/facilitators with demonstrated ability to recruit families and to
provide adult or youth practical training in substance use education and prevention,
parenting skills, individual and family communications, and team building. To order
materials contact:
Resilient Futures Network, LLC
P.O. Box 6319
Louisville, KY 40206-6319
Telephone/Fax: (502) 897-1111.
Training Costs:
Training for the Creating Lasting Family Connections program is highly
recommended, but not required to implement the program. There are standard 5
and 10-day training courses offered at COPES, Inc. in Louisville, KY. On-site
training or technical assistance can also be arranged according to the needs and
resources indicated by the survey results, the agency leadership, and/or the agency
budget. Consultation and training costs vary from $200 for a basic trainer up to a
$1000 per day for the developer.
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