Institute Profile
The Puckett Institute...
- Identifies and reports on challenges and opportunities that influence
the adoption of evidence-based practices.
- Translates research findings into evidence-based practices for supporting
and strengthening child, parent, and family functioning.
- Identifies and develops innovative and promising practices for supporting
and strengthening child, parent, and family functioning.
- Implements demonstration projects that test and validate the effectiveness
of innovative and promising practices.
- Conducts outcome evaluation and research studies that document the effectiveness
of child, parent, and family-strengthening practices.
- Engages in process evaluations to identify those features of policies
and practices that are associated with positive effects.
- Seeks out and reports on the people, programs, and policies that promote
use of family-strengthening practices.
- Conducts training and provides technical assistance enhancing the adoption
of practices that have family-strengthening influences.
- Synthesizes evaluation and research findings, drawing implications for
both policy and practice.
- Delivers information about effective practices through web-based dissemination,
publications, presentations, research reports, and family-friendly newsletters.
About Orelena Hawks Puckett
Orelena Hawks Puckett, born circa 1839, was a midwife in the southern Blue
Ridge Mountains. She is credited with bringing more than a thousand babies into
the world. Orelena was an unselfish woman who did whatever she could to be
of assistance to her friends and neighbors. She was sought out far and wide
by expectant parents because of her compassion and reputation as a competent
midwife. Her helping style made people feel confident and at ease. Orelena’s
capacity to practice her craft in a supportive and compassionate manner forms
the foundation for the mission of the Puckett Institute. Her last delivery
was of her great-grandnephew in 1939, the year she died.
The interested reader can learn more about Mrs. Puckett in Karen Smith's book "Orlean Puckett: The
Life of a Mountain Midwife 1844-1939" published in 2003 by Parkway Press (Boone, NC).