During this season of graduation ceremonies that wrapped up in the past couple of weeks, the spotlight was appropriately on high school and college seniors receiving their diplomas and degrees.

But there was another group of graduates in Suffolk this week that deserves praise and credit for the hard work preceding commencement ceremonies at Suffolk Christian Church on Monday. Eleven children and their parents shared a milestone that was about more than academics, graduating from the five-year Healthy Families program.

The children wore caps and gowns for the ceremony, which marked the end of a program that helps families navigate the first five years of their children’s lives and set those children on a course toward successful lives.

Family support workers visit families’ homes regularly, helping ensure the children are meeting developmental milestones, answering parents’ questions, helping them set goals and achieve them and connecting them with resources in the community. One of the key lessons parents in the program learn is the importance of providing consistency for their children. That ideal will help the children develop self esteem, according to social services officials.

Children today have many obstacles to overcome that kids never had to face in past generations. An increasing number of them have only one parent in the home, and the pressure to engage in self-destructive behaviors — already stronger than ever in American society — is especially acute in those families.

Programs like Healthy Families will not remove those pressures or end the deterioration of the traditional family. But graduates of this program — both parents and their children — will be better equipped to handle those pressures and overcome the challenges set before them than many of their neighbors.

Positive outcomes still are not assured, but Healthy Families gives its participants a great boost along the right path, and that makes the program and its graduates worthy of a few minutes of their own in the spotlight.