The “Growing Up Together - Count Us In Plus” program is intended for parents who raise children in the most challenging circumstances that make parenting and meeting the child’s developmental needs more difficult, as well as for their children of early and preschool age. “The most challenging circumstances” refer to circumstances due to low socioeconomic status, belonging to a minority ethnic community, and the risk of social exclusion. The program was developed taking into account the specific needs and interests of parents and children in Roma settlements in Međimurje, with whom it was implemented as part of the “Phase III: Testing the Guarantee for Every Child in Croatia” initiative – in which the “Growing Up Together - Count Us InPlus” Parenting Support Center was an implementing partner of UNICEF with funding from the European Commission, and the program is still being successfully implemented after the project was completed.
The “Growing Up Together - Count Us In Plus” program was created based on the “Growing Up Together and We” program (Pećnik et al., 2020; Klarić and Jularić, 2020) and includes both parents and children.
It consists of 15 workshops with parents and 15 workshops with children that take place in separate rooms for 60 minutes. This is followed by 30 minutes of guided joint parent-child play aimed at strengthening secure attachment.
The “Growing Together - Count Us In Plus” program brings to parents:
- acquisition of knowledge about child development and parenting that supports it
- promotion of personal growth and development of parents,
- support for the development of constructive coping with difficulties and resilience
- increasing the informal support network.
The “Growing Together - Count Us In Plus” program contributes to children:
- development of resilience to adverse influences through the acquisition of stress coping skills, communication skills and problem solving
- development of self-esteem.
The program is implemented by trained group leaders of the Family Center with the inclusion of Grow Together activists (Raza), members of the Roma national minority as part of the leadership team.
