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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Researchers have identified many benefits of virtual service delivery. The most common benefits are increased access and improved convenience and flexibility.

Explore this resource to foster positive parent-child relationships through everyday staff-parent relationships. Find prompts and questions that invite partnership-building conversations with parents.

Personal and cultural background informs how people parent. Head Start programs can provide important support to parents who want the best for their children.