Francesca Adler-Baeder, speaking from an extensive research background on families under stress and children’s experiences in diverse family types as well as practical experience working with a broad spectrum of families, highlights ways to better understand families under stress and empower them to nurture their children. She provides practical applications, discussing the systems approach used in a statewide initiative in which practitioners and researchers have built real partnerships for effecting positive change. Keynote presentation at the 2009 CYFAR conference.