Parent Tips for Effective Family Engagement
Programs can use this resource, created in partnership with parents, to guide the development of their family engagement strategies and parent leadership opportunities.
Family Engagement
Family engagement is a collaborative and strengths-based process through which early childhood professionals, families, and children build positive and goal-oriented relationships. It is a shared responsibility of families and staff at all levels that requires mutual respect for the roles and strengths each has to offer. Family engagement focuses on culturally and linguistically responsive relationship-building with key family members in a child’s life. These people include pregnant women and expectant families, mothers, fathers, grandparents, and other adult caregivers. It requires making a commitment to creating and sustaining an ongoing partnership that supports family well-being. It also honors and supports the parent-child relationships that are central to a child’s healthy development, school readiness, and well-being. The Office of Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework is a guide to learning how family engagement promotes positive, enduring change for children, families, and communities.
Self-Care Tips for Family Services Professionals and Home Visitors
Promoting simple but effective ways to support one’s own wellness can contribute to the wellness of individuals who work with families, the overall program, and the families served.
Tips to Support Family Services Staff Wellness
Review strategies to support the wellness of family services professionals and home visitors; the resource is written for program supervisors and leaders as well as family services staff and home visitors themselves.
Program Strategies for Leaders and Supervisors
Program leaders play an essential role in creating a healthy workplace by supporting policies and practices that minimize staff stress and burnout, promote staff wellness, and support high-quality family engagement.
National Social Work Month
Each March is a renewed opportunity to honor and celebrate the social work profession nationally. These unsung heroes have a profound, positive impact on the lives of millions of people every day.
Relationship-based Competencies to Support Family Engagement
In this series, learn more about the core knowledge and competencies early childhood professionals need. Find out how these skills are key to engaging families effectively in positive, goal-oriented relationships.
Strategies to Support and Engage Families Virtually
Explore this resource to learn the benefits of engaging families virtually and five evidence-based strategies for virtual family engagement. Use the tools to plan and develop an action plan for implementation.
Five Virtual Family Engagement Strategies
Use any combination of these strategies to meet individual families’ needs and goals related to the outcomes in the Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework.
Planning for Virtual Family Engagement
When planning your year, assess which virtual engagement strategies work best for your program and families. Then, use the Virtual Engagement Planning Tool to develop your action plan.
Virtual Service Planning Tips
Use the following tips to gather the information you need to begin planning virtual family engagement services. These tips also can help strengthen your current practices and support ongoing improvement.