Harrisburg

Family Development Background

The Family Development Credential Training process originated through state funding to Cornell University in 1994 from a research-policy collaborative involving Cornell University, the New York State Department of State and its Community Action Agency network, and the New York State Council on Children and Families. The move to establish this training and credentialing process was led by Evelyn Harris, of the New York State Department of State.

Since that time, many hundreds of Family Workers across the nation have earned the Family Development Credential, an acknowledgement of the principles and practice learned from the Family Development Credential training and curriculum. The Cornell Family Development Program was discontinued as of December 30, 2009.

The Temple University Family Development Program has been going through a transition over the last 3 years since January of 2010 when we established the National Family Development Board consisting of state coordinators of Family Development Credential programs who partnered with us from across the country. The board is a national governing body made up of state representatives, responsible for making decisions, establishing policy and developing an ambitious work plan to move Family Development training forward. The state coordinators agreed to continue to follow the Cornell Family Development Credential model as they oversee training and credentialing in their states.

Temple University Family Development Program and the National Board have used the past few years to actively plan for enhancing the existing process for professional development of Family Workers. And we are pleased to announce that effective January 2013 we will be offering the Credential for Strengths-based Family Workers (SFW) instead of the Family Development Credential.