The Family Empowerment Project in Oregon depends on the use of community volunteers, rather than agency personnel, to befriend and support parents in their efforts to be better caregivers. Parents who neglect their children are often isolated and lonely, with low self-esteem, little knowledge of child development and parenting, and a history of substance abuse. Volunteers for the Family Empowerment Project in Oregon regularly visit parents with a history of child neglect in their homes to break their isolation and connect them with a network of support. This paper by AmeriCorps member Stephanie Hamrick won first place in the 1997 Northwest National Service Symposium, hosted by NWREL.

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