PRESENTING: JAYN ALLIE-CARSON

I am currently working on a master’s degree in Family Relations and Child Development at Oklahoma State university. I am in the process of developing my research.  Basically, I will be using a family systems framework to look at family cohesion, adaptability, and boundaries in home school families.  I will be using a typology, Olson’s Circumplex Model which will allow me to identify family system types.
 
            Prior to moving to Oklahoma, I was the director of a program which functioned as a liaison between the juvenile court system and the public schools in two counties.  the goal of the program was to prevent children’s contact with the court for truancy and behavioral problems at school by identifying and providing
services to the children and their families.  We also developed programs to assist teachers and the courts and served as court advocates for children.  I designed drug/alcohol programs for the public schools and developed communication skills courses for teachers.  I served as the regional representative of a national
family and youth legislative advocacy group and served on a local state advocacy group.   I was one of the people selected by my state to receive training in developing state programs to deinstitutionalize status offenders and was invited by the National Institute of Mental Health to present a paper on advocacy to a conference on community mental health programs.
            On a more personal level, I decided to teach my oldest son at home five years ago.  I am now home schooling all three of my children, ages ten, eight, and four, and am actively involved in two state home school organizations.