FAQ
What is Love Is Not Enough?
Love Is Not Enough is Illinois’ parent-led effort to keep families strong. It is a public awareness campaign that puts parents front and center in strengthening families, and it is sponsored by Strengthening Families Illinois (SFI). SFI is spearheaded by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. It is a proven, cost-effective initiative to prevent child abuse and neglect that brings
together early childhood center staff, parents, child welfare agencies, and others to strengthen families with young children.
What are the core messages of Love Is Not Enough?
All parents love their children. But it takes more than love to keep a family strong. Love Is Not Enough is spreading six core messages to help parents meet the challenges of raising a family:
- Be strong and flexible
- Parents need friends
- Being a great parent is part natural and part learned
- We all need help sometimes
- Parents need to help their children communicate
- Give your children the love and respect they need
These messages are backed up with concrete examples of how parents have solved problems, gotten help, and worked hard to make sure their children are safe and their families are strong. All materials direct parents to www.keepyourfamilystrong.org, where they can link directly to organizations that can help.
How are these messages being spread?
The Love Is Not Enough messages are being spread through Parent Cafés (see below) as well as brochures, posters, a Web site, T-shirts, buttons, and other materials. Print materials are bilingual (English and Spanish), are produced on heavy gloss stock, and feature color photos of diverse parents.
How were the Love Is Not Enough messages developed?
The messages were developed in partnership with Illinois parents and Better World Advertising. Parents involved in SFI early childhood centers participated in several focus groups. They felt strongly that new research on protective factors, which prevent child abuse and neglect needed to be communicated to parents, from parents, in straightforward language.
Who started Love Is Not Enough?
Love Is Not Enough is a project of Strengthening Families Illinois. SFI, spearheaded by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, is a proven, cost-effective initiative to prevent child abuse and neglect that brings together early childhood center staff, parents, child welfare agencies, and others to strengthen families with young children.
The Parent Cafés were developed using the World Café model by SFI and the Illinois Family Partnership Network as a partner of SFI. IFPN is a group of Illinois parents and representatives from state agencies and organizations who are building more effective ways of involving parents in local and state decision making.
What is the research behind Love Is Not Enough?
The campaign’s core messages are based on research from the Center for the Study of Social Policy, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, showing that children are safer when their families are strengthened by six protective factors: (1) parental resilience, (2) an array of social connections, (3) knowledge of parenting and child development, (4) concrete support in times of need, (5) children’s social and emotional development, and (6) healthy parent-child relationships Click here to visit the Strengthening Families National Initiative
