Statewide Chair Mary McLellan Heritage Community Services Regional Chairs Mariscia Cooper (Pee Dee) Charlie Lybrand (Lowcountry) Lenna Neill (Upstate) Rev. Randy Riddle (Grand Strand) Dr. Roger Rollins (CSRA) Charlotte Valentine-Green (Ace Basin)   Advisory Council Eugene Bacote Darlington School District Dr. Vera Bailey Hilton Head Preg. Care Center Pamela Berry Colleton Fire and Rescue Dr. Vonda Calcutt Lowcountry Ctr. Diabetes Sen. Chip Campsen Charleston/Berkeley Rev. Chuck Coward Charleston Outreach Robin Crosby Colleton County Ligure Ellington Ret.Capt. Charleston City Police Dr. Randy Goings Chiropractic Physician Faye Hill Lowcountry Pregnancy Center & SC Association Pregnancy Care Centers WC Hoecke Fatherhood Practioner Leroy Lewis Upward Bound at Cof C Norman L. Moore, Jr. Colonel, USAFR(Ret) Cyndi Mosteller Comm. for Higher Education Alexia Newman Carolina Pregnancy Center Fred Payne Marriage Savers of Upstate Jerry & Barbara Seymour R& R Marriage Min. Ronald Shoupe Colleton County Dr. A. V. Strong A Better Way, Inc. (Gang Out) Dr. Robert Thomas Pulmonary Medicine Pastor Phil Thrailkill St. Luke UMC Hartsville Kelly Walker Upstate Fatherhood Coalition	October 19, 2009 SC Healthy Family Formation Coalition E-News!   October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month Last week, we addressed the importance of setting boundaries to protect against harmful relationships.  Cohabitation was given as an example of relationships without boundaries, because research has shown it to be dangerous for women, children, future marriages, and society as a whole.  Setting boundaries is also tied to Peer Independence.  Dr. Stan Weed of the Institute for Research and Evaluation has identified Peer Independence as a core predictor for “how likely a student will resist pressure from peers to go against their own standards and beliefs in order to be accepted by their peers.” Parents also need to address their own Peer Independence issues if they are going to model it for their children.  Parents are just as susceptible as their children to following the crowd and allowing the culture to dictate how they should and should not conduct their lives.     It is refreshing to find smart parents that are authoritative and direct with their kids, for we know that research indicates this is necessary for optimal adolescent brain development.  Consider how you may be struggling against negative peer pressure as you try to protect your family and then how hard it must be for your teens.  At any rate, someone has to be the adult and show them the way.   The following behaviors, with helpful links, should alert parents to areas that lead to unhealthy relationships and/or intimate partner violence. Allowing abusive degrading speech: bullying, verbal threats or insults. SC Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Men Can Stop Rape National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families How can I tell if I am in an abusive relationship? Watching, listening and participating in TV, music videos/lyrics, or movies that view girls/women as objects for sexual pleasure and/or violence. Effects of Pornography on Teens  Family Facts Why did 115 Girls Get Pregnant At Robeson High? Allowing others to profile or sexually harass girls: Furious Females Sexualization of Girls (Free Download!) Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes Unprotected Additional resources: 4Parents How to teach your children about healthy marriage (and relationships) Two of Us Heritage Keepers®  Parents In The Know Heritage Keepers® is based on Dr. Weed’s core predictors of sexual activity including Peer Independence.  Heritage Keepers®  educators are trained to target predictors of risky behavior with their middle and high school students.  Students that are susceptible to negative peer pressure will certainly have a more difficult time listening to their parents and other trusted adults that set protective boundaries.  Read more about the Institute for Research and Evaluation’s report on the Heritage Keepers® program.   Follow the SC-HFF Coalition on Twitter! Join the Heritage Keepers® Facebook Cause
	The South Carolina Healthy Family Formation Coalition (SC HFF Coalition) is organized and staffed by Heritage Community Services. The SC HFF Coalition promotes child and family well-being by providing opportunities for statewide communication about such issues as: adolescent pregnancy, unwed childbearing, fatherlessness, sexual exploitation of our youth, dating violence and domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, gang activity and youth violence.    Coalition members support healthy family formation initiatives that integrate character-based life skills, teen pregnancy prevention with an emphasis on abstinence-centered education, and the importance of fidelity-within-marriage.   Together we can impact our culture so that forming healthy families becomes a norm, rather than the exception, for South Carolina. Please, forward this E-News to interested friends, family and colleagues and ask them to consider joining the Coalition. Join/Subscribe Unsubscribe PRIVACY POLICY: Information you share will never be sold, rented, or given to any third party. Contact Mary McLellan , Statewide Chairman (843)654-7740 ext.122