Partnerships for Change: Listening to the Voices of Families
This video shows how a program can partner effectively with families and community organizations to contribute to children’s school readiness.
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.
This video shows how a program can partner effectively with families and community organizations to contribute to children’s school readiness.
In this webinar, learn more about relationship-based strategies and effective ways to engage fathers in your program. Find your starting point in making improvements to program environments.
Explore ways to support fathers in your program through effective community partnerships. Learn about the types of community connections that can support paternal well-being.
Find out how staff can partner with fathers to best support their children’s school readiness. Research shows that engaged fathers can have significant positive effects on their children’s cognition, language, and social and emotional development in the preschool years.
Learn about the dreams and experiences of families who migrate to the United States to create a better life for their children.
The process of storytelling can also strengthen relationships within families. Watch this video to hear one staff member discuss on how this process of sharing, listening, and reflecting has helped the families in this Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program—and the community—in surprising ways.
Strong, healthy families give their children the best chance at success in school and in life. The Family Goal-Setting Guide explores how strong partnerships can positively influence the goals families set in the Family Partnership Process.
This three-part webinar series focuses on effective and intentional father engagement. Learn how engaging fathers promotes children’s learning and development and strengthens the parent-child relationship.
Explore strategies to encourage strong and positive parent-child relationships. Discover how to use family engagement efforts that include valuing, respecting, and supporting families.
Explore this research-based infographic to learn how and why the parent-child relationship is important. Review strategies program supervisors and staff can use the infographic to promote these relationships.