Asian Pacific Islander Family Resources Network

A Collaborative with 20+ Non-profit Agencies Providing Culturally Sensitive Services

Asian and Pacific Islander Family Resources Network (APIFRN) is a collaboration of 20+ agencies providing family support services to Asian and Pacific Islander (API) families in the City and County of San Francisco. A project of APA Family Support Services (formerly Asian Perinatal Advocates), APIFRN offers comprehensive care and support services for API families with children, ages 0-18 years old.

The mutual goals of the project are: strengthen API families and reduce the likelihood of out-of-home placements, increase the use of neighborhood-based resources, and assist families in accessing services in San Francisco.

The APIFRN emphasizes a proactive approach towards the prevention of problems: partner agencies help the family function more effectively and foster a sense of family self-sufficiency and empowerment. The network partners utilize a “building on strengths family model” to promote growth, empowerment and resiliency. Program services are driven by participants’ needs and are responsive in addressing these needs. Network parents play an important role in the design and development of program services and activities, serve as resources for each other, and advocate for themselves in the broader community. The network is culturally sensitive in terms of staffing skills, language capabilities, and geographical accessibilities.

Parenting Education

  • Programs that provide classes, groups or other educational opportunities for parents or potential parents and caregivers who want to acquire the knowledge and skills to be effective in their parenting role. We provide bilingual parenting classes in Samoan, Laotian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Chinese. Topics include but not limited to child behavior, child discipline methods, child abuse prevention and intervention, effective communication skills, domestic violence/intervention, school/health linkages and developing better parenting.

Parent Support Group

  • An ongoing staff facilitated structured group that provides parents and caregivers the opportunity to support each other and to share information/advice or problem-solving strategies relating to parenting experiences. Frequently groups are formed by individuals sharing a demographic or experiential characteristic. Autonomous groups of individuals who share a common problem or concern who meet together on a voluntary basis for mutual support. Members of mutual support groups share their experiences, strengths and hopes and rely on one another for assistance.

Resources & Opportunities

  • Structured stand-alone or series of sessions that provide information on a variety of topics promoting parental and life competencies. Workshop topics may include, but are not limited to: anger management, health and wellness, children’s emotional, physical, social development, learning disabilities, and/or school enrollment. Ongoing classes may consist of instructional sessions designed to enhance a participant’s skill in a particular area, often including a focus on life skills and/or stress management techniques. Our programs offer individual and/or group sessions which assist participants to understand how much their lifestyle impacts their physical and mental health and to develop personal practices that enhance their total well-being.

School Readiness & Success

  • We provide support for families of school age children and teens to support student engagement and success in school and children transitions to kindergarten, middle school, high school, and higher education. We provide parenting education, parent-child interactive groups, and one-time workshops that promote school readiness for API children ages 0-5 and assistance in navigating critical school issues such as school placement, attendance and access to academic interventions. Our services address citywide resource gaps for at-risk API youth, teens, and their parents; assisting families in their interactions with the school system, such as helping with school registration, enrollment of their children in special programs, or facilitating communication between families and school staff.

Community Building

  • Our programs provide opportunities for individuals of all ages to develop their leadership and management skills through participation in activities which require planning a work scope, organizing ways to achieve planned objectives, motivating members to complete tasks they have agreed to perform and evaluating the group’s progress; or through training that addresses these skills. Our services address citywide resource gaps for at-risk API youth, teens, and their parents by creating opportunity to have open dialogue and build partnership to strengthen community.

Family Events & Field Trips

  • We have family events for parents and children to learn about community resources while allowing our groups and participants to enjoy, socialize and support each other. We host holiday events for Lunar New Year, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We also go on field trips to promote the exploration of nature and to reduce isolation for the family. We usually go to places that are easily accessible by public transportation.

Coordinated Support

  • We provide case management and family advocacy for families, presenting issues to be addressed which may include: child safety, family functioning/ relationships, parenting, health, mental health, substance abuse, socioeconomics, child school success, and/or well-being, parent-child relational problems, financial and life planning, intergenerational communication problems, gang activity, and truancy. Services include assessment, referral linkages, home visits, and coaching. We provide support to remove institutional or other barriers that prevent API immigrant families from linking to or accessing available services and resources.

Provider Services

  • We provide community presentation, workshops and training to providers. We work with providers on client/family referrals to leverage resources to better serve client/families and address the needs of the community.

Leadership Skills Development and Volunteering

  • Community Representatives United (CRU), formed to augment the operations of the APIFRN, consists of youth and parent leaders who provide input on the design and implementation of funded activities. They receive support from APIFRN to assist in their contribution and the development of appropriate leadership skills while they provide volunteer services to support the functioning of the family resource center. They gain experience working with each other and/or other community members towards a common goal.

    APIFRN programs are geared towards assisting youth make a smooth transition between developmental stages. Our CRU youth members receive training to provide support and guidance to other youth and they engage in projects that is beneficial to the community or its members.

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