Approaching a New Normal

Champions’ Research Collaboration with Dr. Jaime Corvin, Associate Professor at the College of Public Health

At Champions, we are always striving to better understand the impact of our work with families. Our research partner Dr. Jaime Corvin, Associate Professor at the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida, recently published the results of a case study on Champions exploring how our transition to virtual services during the pandemic impacted families.

In response to COVID-19, Champions had to rethink how we would deliver services safely to our participant families. Putting our services on hold leaving families without a place to turn to was not an option. We quickly pivoted to virtual services to continue to reduce the risk for poor child and family outcomes.

Here are three key takeaways from the research:

• Our programs were able to adapt to create opportunities for increasing service equity, improving engagement and satisfaction, and improving family and mental health outcomes. We were able to maintain connections while providing a model for delivering services to reduce child maltreatment during times of social isolation and increased hardship.
• Champions’ experiences provided insight into emerging public health and family studies research on equity in child abuse prevention by highlighting unexpected positive outcomes. To our surprise, we experienced increased engagement in our services. We were able to provide a blueprint for ourselves that is flexible but engaging to reach those isolated and at risk for child maltreatment, violence, depression, or other poor health outcomes.
• We are so thankful for our funders (Community Foundation, United Way Suncoast, and the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County) for their assistance with technology other supports to ensure program successes for families. Through their funds, we were able to provide wifi hotspots, lend laptops and webcams to help ensure families had access to participate in our programs and services.

Through a year like no other, families in our community counted on Champions for Children to help them maintain their well-being and provide safe, supportive environments for their children. To learn more about the positive impact we have provided to families, check out the full research report below.