The Child Abuse Prevention Council
Who we are
We are a team of Parent Navigators with lived experience. We represent the Ventura County Parents Voices!
What is a Parent Navigator?
Parent Navigator includes parent Leaders, Parent Partners, Peer Mentors, Parent Advocates, Peer Partners, Parent who help parents and any parent with lived experience.
What is a Meaningful Engagement Opportunity?
A meaningful engagement opportunity is anything that involves parents with lived experience providing input, feedback, suggestions, ideas, resources etc. by using their
voice to help strengthen families in our community.
What is the MEO quilt?
The MEO quilt is a visual that shows the collaboration of the agency and the parent with
lived experience working together in Meaningful Engagement Opportunities to help
strengthen families in our community.
Parents' Voices CORE Team
Connections, Opportunities, Resources, Empowerment
The Parents' Voice's CORE (Connections, Opportunities, Resources, Empowerment) is a
closed meeting that consists of Parent Navigators who have lived experiences. We represent parents' voices! We include any parent who wants to get involved and bring their expertise to the team. We have a very diverse group of parents with lived experiences in many different areas of parenthood such as, child welfare, probation, adoption, special needs, juvenile justice, caring for an elderly ect... We empower each other by providing support to one another. Many of our parents have multiple lived experiences and knowledge to help other parents get through similar situations. Most of us have a professional role, but we encourage our parents to bring their expertise to the table as parents with lived experience rather than a professional with insight. Our parent navigators are involved in many "meaningful engagement opportunities," Such as our Social Connections meetings. Still, the CORE meeting is a safe & brave place for ideas to improve and enhance the amazing existing resources and hopefully add more. Our CORE team provides exactly what it says, Connections, Opportunities, Resources, and Empowerment!
Agreements for our
PARENTS' VOICES CORE TEAM:
​
​
-
Speak from your own experience: Use “I” statements.
-
Listen attentively. -
Practice acceptance and non-judgment. -
Do not give advice. -
Confidentiality: what is talked about here stays here. -
Turn off or silence your cell phone and keep your mic on mute while someone else is talking.
​​
-
Honor your feelings and practice self-care
Parents' Voices Statement
When parents come together to represent parents’ voices, we bring our knowledge as parents with lived experiences. There are many “meaningful engagement opportunities” for our team, but our CORE meetings and our Social
Connections meetings are meant to be a safe & brave place for ideas to improve and enhance the amazing resources that already exist.
The Parent’s Voices has always existed and has always been active, we have simply just taken a new direction to make the parents voices stronger. Think of us as the “New iPhone” (always improving, always getting better). There is no ending to the Parent Voice improving.
About Parents Social Connections
The Social Connections Meeting is a Quarterly meeting that includes our CORE members
and is open to all parents, community members, and partner agencies. This quarterly meeting gives Parents and Community Leaders time to lean into the challenges and celebrations of life.
We allow our parents to voice any struggles within our county-wide family service system, bringing wisdom individually and together. We pick a hot topic suggested by our parents, relating it to one of the protective factors, and create a café style meeting. These meetings shed light and create a common ground for our community partners and our Parents, bringing our parent's voices to a larger capacity.
​
We invite you to join us!
​
For more information please contact Jackie Flores-Ortega at:
Parents Social Connections
Meetings
Parents Social Connections
Presented by Ventura County Parents' Voices
​
February 8, 2023
11:00am - 12:30pm
​
May 10, 2023
5:30pm - 7:00pm
​
August 9, 2023
11:00am - 12:30pm
​
November 8, 2023
5:30pm - 7:00pm
​
​
​
​
​
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.