by Reiko Kakuyama-Villaber, Jon Korfmacher, Aimee Hilado, Carolyn Ponting and Melissa Bond
Introduction
Social support and community care are key protective factors that help resettled parents adapt to and thrive in their new communities (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2024). Home visiting programs offer culturally responsive ways to support immigrant and refugee families as they navigate parenting and unfamiliar social systems (Hilado et al., 2025). By meeting families in spaces that are accessible and familiar – most often their own homes – these programs help reduce access barriers, build trust, and foster parental resilience, social connections, and parenting knowledge, all of which contribute to optimal child development and overall family well-being (Center for the Study of Social Policy, 2018; Ryan et al., 2008). Drawing on a study that examined how home visiting programs can provide resettled families with consistent, culturally responsive support (Hilado et al., 2025), this article explores how those findings can inform the Strengthening FamiliesTM Protective Factors Framework (CSSP, 2018). It explores how relationship-based models like Baby TALK (see sidebar) can support the community integration of refugee and immigrant families and promote more equitable family support practices.
Home Visiting and the Protective Factors Framework
Protective factors are strengths within individuals, families, communities, and society that reduce risk and support healthy development of children, youth, and families (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2020). Protective factors help children and youth thrive in various settings, including home, school, and a larger community, and provide parents with resources and coping strategies to care for their children. Strengthening FamiliesTM (CSSP, 2018) is an evidence-based protective factors framework used across child and family serving systems. It focuses on five protective factors in children and caregivers that are associated with lower rates of child abuse and neglect and with optimal child development (CSSP, 2018). This article explores how elements of the Baby TALK home visiting model seen in support of immigrant and refugee families can be applied to the Strengthening Families™ Protective Factors Framework, and suggests key strategies for enhancing the practice of family services professionals. By demonstrating how relationship-based models like Baby TALK can foster more supportive connections with families, this article aims to promote more equitable practices in family support, particularly in culturally diverse communities.
No. 1 Protective Factor: Parental Resilience
Managing stress and functioning well when faced with challenges, adversity and trauma.
Baby TALK Elements:
Parents are valued, and their cultural backgrounds are honored. Culture influences parenting, and the trauma or hardships families have experienced – and may still be experiencing – can shape their engagement in home visiting and community support programs. When home visitors stay open to families’ diverse values and beliefs, reflect on their own biases, and focus on building connections beyond differences, they create a space where parents can express daily stressors, cope with anxiety and loneliness, and strengthen self-efficacy and hope.
No. 2 Protective Factor: Social Connections
Positive relationships that provide emotional, informational, instrumental and spiritual support.
Baby TALK Elements:
Fostering trusting relationships with families through consistent support. Resettled families often navigate a new, unfamiliar environment while dealing with loss of social support, isolation, and uncertainty. Home visitors provide emotional support, help families access information and resources, and build their parent capacities as they adjust to their life in a resettled community. Through consistent home visit sessions, home visitors respond to families’ needs and concerns, and build mutual, trust-based partnerships with parents and children.
No. 3 Protective Factor: Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development
Understanding child development and parenting strategies that support physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development.
Baby TALK Elements:
Promoting parents’ agency and capacity building. Parents expressed how the program has helped them expand their knowledge about child development and take active roles in advocating for their children’s growth. Home visitors focus on supporting parents’ mastery in raising their children, through mutual relationships and individualized, family-centered practices based on families’ priorities.
Broadening parental perspectives. Home visiting that focuses on families’ needs and strengths can help expand parents’ perspectives about parenting choices – including how to understand and respond to common behavior challenges – while honoring each family’s values.
No. 4 Protective Factor: Concrete Support in Times of Need
Access to concrete support and services that address a family’s needs and help minimize stress caused by challenges.
Baby TALK Elements:
Using a family-centered approach to connect families with essential supports. For many immigrant and refugee families, home visiting becomes an integral support during their transition into new communities. Our data showed that the resettled families’ needs evolve over time: from securing basic needs (e.g., food, clothing, medical care during the first six months), to seeking English language training and immigration support between 18-24 months. Home visitors prioritize stabilizing families during critical transition periods by connecting them to essential resources and offering guidance tailored to their background and evolving needs. Using a family-centered approach, home visitors support resettled families in understanding community resources and services and navigating health and education systems.
No. 5 Protective Factor: Social and 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.
Baby TALK Elements:
Responding to their children’s social and emotional needs. Home visitors guide parents in building their knowledge about their children’s social and emotional development. Use of home visiting strategies, such as beginning sessions with the prompt “tell me about your baby” and acknowledging developmental milestones, can guide and scaffold parents and promote stronger parent-child interaction and bonding.
Empowering parents to explore ways of nurturing their children’s positive cultural identity. Many parents were drawn to Baby TALK because they saw it as a way to move toward the hopes and dreams they had for their children—to be respectful, independent, resilient, and embrace their cultural heritage. With their home visitors, parents can seek ways to support their children’s physical and emotional health in a new cultural context.
Culturally responsive and family-centered home visiting provides essential support that helps families build resilience, strengthen parenting practices, and promote long-term stability and well-being.
Conclusion
Home visiting programs can provide an important contribution to family support practices. Within the child welfare context, recent efforts have attempted to put more focus on prevention and promotion. The Family First Prevention Services Act, for example, can expand pathways for strengthening family support systems through cross-system collaboration (Grewal-Kök et al., 2023). Culturally responsive and family-centered home visiting provides essential support that helps families build resilience, strengthen parenting practices, and promote long-term stability and well-being. While further efforts are needed to strengthen family support systems, incorporating culturally responsive practices grounded in trust, relationships, and openness can help family support professionals use protective factors to prevent and respond to the challenges families face, including child maltreatment, offering a pathway to reducing family adversity while strengthening their wellbeing.
Reiko Kakuyama-Villaber, MA, MEd, is a researcher at Chapin Hall whose work focuses on early care and education, school districts, and child welfare. Contact: [email protected]
Jon Korfmacher, PhD, is a Senior Research Fellow at Chapin Hall. His work focuses on examining implementation of early childhood and family support services. Contact: [email protected]
Aimee Hilado, PhD, LCSW, is a community-engaged, mixed methods researcher and licensed clinical social worker specializing in immigration trauma and immigrant/refugee mental health. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice and Director of the Refugee Wellness Lab. Contact: [email protected]
Carolyn Ponting, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology and Human Development at the University of Oregon. Contact: [email protected]
Melissa Bond, PhD, is a Research Scientist at Northern Arizona University. She works as the program and data manager for the Arizona Housing Analytics Collaborative.