ABSTRACT
Families and Schools Together (FAST) has an established track record of increasing family engagement with low-income, diverse families and is recognized by the United Nations as an evidence-based, universal, family skills model for drug prevention. It applies both sociological and psychological theories into a simple program for raising "child well-being" levels for all children. Reaching out to all children, including targeted children, especially in low-income communities, can help reduce disparities of race and income inequalities. Successful outreach to all families is enhanced by flexibility about time and place to meet with parents, persistence and caring and discussion of social inclusion. There is no needs assessment of individual young children in FAST. The FAST training and supervision model for the team is also used for the trainer interns, and comes from family therapy training. There are three stages of the two-year parenting program: outreach, weekly multi-family groups, and monthly parent, graduate-led, multi-family group sessions.
