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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
KEY CONCEPTS
Licensing regulations and professional standards (NAEYC, DEC) set expectations for
child care programs to involve and collaborate with families.
Child care professionals need to understand characteristics of family systems and the
ways that those characteristics differ among individual families.
Variations among families within the three basic parenting styles identified by research
are shaped by cultural and individual characteristics and values.
Cultural responsiveness, also called cross-cultural competence, is the ability to
communicate across cultural lines and collaborate effectively with different people.
Cultural responsiveness includes interpersonal skills and knowledge as well as
ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS FOR STUDENTS
1. Help each student locate a family with a parent who is different from her or him in some
respect: someone who is much older or younger; from a different social, ethnic, or racial
background; whose native language or sexual orientation is different. If your university or
college has a laboratory school, you might find a great deal of diversity among the parents
of the children enrolled there. Churches and community groups are other possible sources.
Have students make an appointment to interview the family member. Brainstorm a list of
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2. Invite a manager of a child development program to be interviewed by the class. Ask what
strategies he or she uses to foster communication with families. What has proven especially
challenging? What has been most rewarding or effective?
3. Invite a panel of three or four parents of children enrolled in child development programs to
4. Divide the class into teams and assign a particular category of service to each team: health,
financial assistance, counseling, housing, domestic violence, and nutrition, for example.
Have each team draw up a list of the resources available in the community to help families
with that particular need. For each resource, list the name of the agency, location, contact
person, services provided, eligibility criteria, and cost (if any). Share a copy of all findings
with the entire group.
a. Discuss the following scenario as a class or in small groups. Decide how the program
manager might negotiate this conflict:
The parent advisory group for a Head Start program decided to ask each parent to
contribute $2 to purchase small gifts for each child. They knew that this might be a
6. Have them think of ways to serve or support a diverse type of family (e.g., gay/lesbian
7. Assign students to consult Young Children (March 2008, pp. 80-81) for resources resources
8. Have students plan family involvement activities for parents who may not read, or may not