McKean County SFP Works

"I learned how to talk to my child and listen! Spend quality time and teach them responsibility and consequences. It was great to hear other parents and their issues"

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Parenting is Sometimes Difficult

The McKean County Strengthening Families Program, also known as McKean County SFP, seeks to help families of 5th and 6th graders:

- strengthen communication
- prepare for the teenage years

This interactive program, which runs in each school district in the county during the Fall and Winter, occurs one night a week for seven weeks. During a typical evening, participants eat a free dinner from 5:30-6:00 pm. At 6:00, the younger children go to free childcare for the evening while the parents and their 5th/6th graders split up to meet for an hour with peers. At 7:00, they come back together for the family session, which wraps up the evening at 8:00 pm.

Why SFP?

One group of McKean County SFP grads.

One element SFP focuses on is delaying the age youth start alcohol use. This is especially important in McKean County due to the rate of underage alcohol use. The 2007 PAYS survey showed that 23.2% of 6th graders in McKean County reported drinking alcohol in their lifetime.1

This is especially important when thinking about pre-teens, as studies show the earlier someone begins to drink alcohol, the more likely they are to become dependent on alcohol. In fact, one study showed that “those who started to drink at age 11 or 12 were nearly 10 times more likely to become alcohol dependent than those who started drinking later (ages 19 and older).”2

The McKean County Family Centers efforts through SFP are working as the lifetime alcohol use of 6th graders is falling (It is down 9.1% from the ‘05 PAYS rate of 32.3%3).

1 Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, “2007 Pennsylvania Youth Survey: McKean County,” (2008): 10.
2 Adalf, Edward M., David J. Dewitt, David R. Offord, and Alan C. Ogborne, “Age at First Use: A Risk Factor for the Development of Alcohol Disorders,” American Journal of Psychology, no. 157 (May 2000): 747.
3 Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, “2005 Pennsylvania Youth Survey: McKean County,” (2008): 10.

The McKean County Family Centers is a program of The Guidance Center.