Where To Go For Parenting Support In Maryland
Parenting is a big job, and no one is meant to do it alone. There's a community of support waiting to help.
Choose what you’d like to learn about, and we’ll take you right to that section:
We all need support because raising children is a community effort.
You've Got This!
When the smiles turn into stomping, and as the grown-up, we're unsure about what the child needs or how to handle the big emotions. On those tough days, it can feel like you’re running a marathon! But, you’ve got this!
Here’s what you need to know – you’re the single most important factor in a child’s development.
Safe, stable, and nurturing environments help children thrive. All grown-ups can provide this - parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, mentors, kinship caregivers or another loving grown-up in the community.
Parenting hotlines
Explore trusted parenting tips, tools, and local resources here in Maryland. Get connected to support when you need it.
If you need to speak with someone, here's how to get 24/7 help.
Parenting HelpLine
1-800-243-7377
The Family Tree provides a free and confidential 24-hour parenting helpline in Maryland.
Dial 211
Dial 211 in Maryland to find parenting resources in your community, mental health support, child care, and other essential needs for you and your family, like food, housing, utility assistance, employment help, and more. Dial 211 or search for resources.
How We Can Support Resilience In Children
Child development is a shared effort for grown-ups in a community. Whether it's a grandparent, aunt, coach, music teacher, church member, or bus driver, we all play a role in a child's development, and we can all make a difference in their lives.
- Children thrive when they're surrounded by protective factors - the things that help kids feel safe, supported, and seen.
- That starts with making sure children have safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments.
- It continues by ensuring that community support is easily accessible in times of need.
There are protective factors for children, families, and communities. These factors help children learn, grow, and bounce back from life's challenges.
If we think of resilience as being like a scale that tips toward positive outcomes, protective factors are things that counterbalance risk factors, the things on the negative side of the scale.
Let's explore some of them.
Community Supports
Let's start with community support, as that's what we do best at Maryland Information Network, which powers 211 services in Maryland. We use information and technology to make community resources accessible, so every Marylander knows where to find help.
Being able to connect with community support in times of need is a key protective factor. These resources connect people with essentials like food, child care, housing, health care and child-specific needs.
Maryland Essentials for Childhood
Find these resources in the statewide resource database we developed for Maryland Essentials for Childhood, which focuses exclusively on children and families. It uses 211 data to identify ZIP code-specific resources parents, grandparents, kinship caregivers, child care providers, and other grown-ups.
You can find community support like child care, camps, after-school activities, special needs support and more. There are also resources for grown-ups like pregnancy and postpartum care, adult education, employment and financial assistance.
Community Programs for Children
There's a village of people willing to show up for children from coaches, church members, neighbors, mentors, friends and relatives!
211 can help connect you to these supports.
Mentoring
There are school- and community-based programs, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and OhanaHC in Howard County, that empower students,, connecting them with mentors.
Connect with a mentoring program.
After school activities
After-school activities are phenomenal brain-builders. The Maryland Out of School Time Network (MOST) is a statewide youth development organization that provides information and resources on "out of school" opportunities.
Your child's school and community agencies are also a wealth of information about plugging into activities, including academic programs, music, arts, and sports. Programs like Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, STEM/STEAM programs, art classes, and the Excel Beyond the Bell Middle School program in Montgomery County are all ways to power up healthy development.
Parenting Support
Community supports help parents as they work toward creating safe, stable, and nurturing relationships to help their child thrive.
We all need support because raising children is a community effort. Every child learns and manages their emotions in unique ways. Some children may need a little help practicing the skills that help them cope with big thoughts and feelings.
If we think back to the Resilience scale, we can think of this support as recalibrating the set point of the fulcrum, so that it becomes increasingly more difficult to tip over to the negative.
In Maryland, you can also learn strategies for common childhood behaviors through Circle of Security® Parenting™. This framework focuses on strengthening the parent-child relationship, enabling you to support your child as they learn and grow.
Several groups throughout Maryland teach the Circle of Security® Parenting™ techniques.
You can also sign up for parenting classes in Maryland through:
Mental Health of Parents
With parenting, the focus is often on the children. But parents need support, too.
Parenting can be joyous and overwhelming. Know that you are not alone, and no parent is perfect, and you are not supposed to do this job alone. There's a community of support waiting to help you.
If you’re experiencing depression (including postpartum) or feeling overwhelmed as a parent, reach out for support.
You can contact 988, for free and confidential support.
Kinship support
There are also additional supports for relatives or close family friends who provide out-of-home care in a relationship called a kinship caregiver.
These arrangements occur when a parent is unable to care for a child due to a serious hardship, and relatives may step in to help.
If you're a kinship caregiver, we provide informational and inspirational text messages to connect you to community resources.
Text MDKinCares to 898-211
Kinship can be difficult to navigate, as it can change relationships. Learn how to navigate kinship. Or how to connect with kinship resources.
Brain-Building Toolkit
You can also find the tools you need to help your child grow up to be resilient through the Maryland Essentials for Childhood Brain-Building Toolkit.
It's a one-stop location that explains the brain science behind child development. Don't worry - you don't need to be a brain scientist to make a difference. Remember, you are the single most important factor. So, you have what it takes to make a difference.
These tools and resources can help you shape a child's life in intentional ways by tapping into what science tells us works best.
Maryland Information Network, which manages 211, is proud to be a backbone organization with Maryland Essentials for Childhood and to power this toolkit with statewide resources for grown-ups.
How you can make a difference with positve experiences
Remember, YOU are the single most important difference maker. By you, we mean all grown-ups in a community. We all can make a difference in a child's healthy development.
So, how can you do that? By creating positive childhood experiences (PCEs). These are experiences that support safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments.
None of us is perfect, and that's ok. It's all about consistency.
- Find opportunities to have fun, laugh, and play.
- Be present at their activities and in daily life by putting away your phone and other distractions.
- Attend community events - cultural, athletic, religious, and civic events.
- Support them rather than trying to fix things.
These are everyday actions we can all take to support children. Friends, relatives, neighbors, and coaches can show up and be present for children who are not their own, too. We all can!
This connectivity helps children feel loved, appreciated, and aware of their surroundings. It also creates a sense of purpose and belonging, helping to build resilient children and adults in our communities.
Find Resources Now
Find community resources for food, health care, housing and more in our database. Search by ZIP code.
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explore assistance programs
Learn about benefit programs and how to connect with support.
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explore assistance programs
Learn about benefit programs and how to connect with support.
Housing
Rental payments, eviction prevention, homeless shelters.
Utilities
Electric, gas, and water bill assistance programs.
Taxes
Free tax preparation help, software, tax credits
