Preschool Development Grant

Birth through Five

Activity 3.2: Building Family Engagement and Leadership

Children grow and learn within the context of their family. When organizations that serve children and families authentically partner with families, both the family and organization are enriched, and services are more impactful. North Carolina is working to enhance family engagement across early childhood sectors through strong collaborations and tools. The North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) and its partners are pleased to introduce the North Carolina Family Engagement and Leadership Framework to guide this work.

Early childhood is an exciting and challenging adventure. Family engagement has helped me feel connected and supported while I navigated the first years of life for our two youngest kids. Being a part of FELC allowed me to see just how much work goes into supporting families around our state. I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the work and show organizational leaders that what is being done with families is working, and needs to continue with even more parent input.

Allison Boyd, Parent Leader
Johnston County, NC

In 2019, the State Family Engagement and Leadership Coalition was formed as a 74-person coalition of NC early childhood providers from both state and local levels, as well as parents. This cross-sector group met consistently over six months to develop and refine the guiding principles and concepts featured in NC’s Family Engagement and Leadership Framework, developed to guide improvement practices as well as policy and systems change to support early childhood systems that are family-centered and equitable, serving children in the context of their families and communities.

The Family Engagement and Leadership Framework defines and identifies important family engagement concepts to be applied across early childhood sectors and agencies. While its focus is ages birth to five, this Framework can be applied to the birth to eight age range and beyond, allowing for increased strategic alignment with initiatives such as NC’s Early Childhood Action Plan and Pathways to Grade-Level Reading. This Framework reflects both research and collective wisdom to ensure all children succeed through the strategy that works best – family engagement. It upholds the definition of family engagement as “doing with—not for—families” and the vision that agencies and programs align strategies to intentionally engage and learn from the adults in a child’s life. A Summary of the Framework is also available in English and Spanish.

Family Engagement and Leadership Framework – English PDF

Family Engagement and Leadership Framework – Spanish PDF

Family Engagement and Leadership Framework Summary – English PDF

Family Engagement and Leadership Framework Summary – Spanish PDF

Equity-Centered Family Engagement - English PDF

A companion document, the Family Engagement Action Guide includes practical tools and strategies to increase family engagement and leadership at the local, county and state levels. The Action Guide is a comprehensive roadmap documenting the experiences of 10 local communities and their approach to community-level planning with family representatives and local agencies.

For more information about North Carolina’s early childhood Family Engagement and Leadership work, contact the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education at [email protected] or 919-814-6300.

NC Early Childhood Family Engagement and Leadership Coalition

Vision:

North Carolina's birth to five early childhood systems are family-centered and equitable, serving children in the context of their families and communities.

Mission:

Agencies align strategies to engage and learn from the adults in a child's life, and support practitioners to build knowledge and skills to engage families as partners. Families are empowered to advocate for their children, themselves, and systems improvement.

What the Research Says:

“Family engagement plays a major role in children’s school readiness, influencing their social-emotional and academic competencies.” (e.g., Starkey & Klein, 2000; Powell et al., 2010; Sheridan, Knoche, Edwards, Bovaird, & Kupzyk, 2010; Sheridan, Knoche, Kupzyk, Edwards, & Marvin, 2011)

“When parents take on leadership roles…early childhood programs, schools and other programs are better able to meet the needs of the children, families and the community they serve.” (Auerbach, 2010)

What Does Family Engagement and Leadership Look Like?

RESPONSIVE RELATIONSHIPS

Families experience responsive relationships with the people who work with them, in which family story and partnership is valued.

SHARED DECISIONS

Families are equal partners and active participants in goals and decisions about their child’s well-being, development and learning.

WELCOMING ENVIRONMENTS

Spaces are created to feel welcoming and safe for families.

COMMUNICATION

Communication is a two-way street, easy to understand, and ongoing.

ADVOCACY

Families are empowered to advocate for themselves and their communities.

PROGRAM PLANNING

Families help with the planning and improvement process of programs.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Partner organizations are held accountable on how well they include families in their self-assessment and planning.

Defining Family Engagement and Family Leadership:

Family Engagement is the process of building genuine relationships with families to help children grow and thrive. Family engagement means doing with—not for—families.

At the program level, family engagement is an interactive process centered around providers building mutually respectful, positive, goal-oriented relationships with parents, with shared responsibility for the success of children.
At the systems levels, family leaders partner with agencies to provide feedback on services, help with program planning and improvement, and advance a family-centered approach within rules, regulations, and service delivery.
At both the program and state systems levels, providers work together with families, professionals and community partners to advance equity, inclusiveness, and cultural and linguistic responsiveness.

Adapted from: Head Start/National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement childcareta.acf.hhs.gov

Family Leadership occurs when parents and family members have the knowledge, skills and opportunity to represent a “parent voice” to help shape their communities, programs and policies at the local or state level.

Family leaders help early childhood programs, schools, social services, health care providers and other entities become more responsive to and supportive of children and families. They may be parents, grandparents, kinship care providers, foster parents or anyone in a parenting role. They are speaking from their own perspective and lived experiences and are not speaking or acting in a staff role for an organization or other entity.

Every family member has the potential to become a family leader. Example roles include:

Ambassadors who share information about early intervention, early childhood education or health services through community outreach or social media;
Activists who champion community improvements for young children, such as practices and policies that support family well-being and equity;
Change makers who identify problems and help create systemic improvements in early learning, health and development.

Adapted from: Parents Anonymous parentsanonymous.org

FAMILY-CENTERED Agencies prioritize engaging families as partners as a central strategy to achieving positive, equitable and sustainable outcomes for children and families. EQUITY-DRIVEN Agencies make it a priority to understand families’ experiences and break down barriers created by structural and individual racism and other types of discrimination. COLLABORATIVE Agencies make program decisions with — not for —families, by partnering with families and parent-led organizations from thestart and continually. TRANSPARENT Agencies ensure families have access to information and supports that make it possible for them to fully participate and influence agency and system-level change processes.

Guiding Principles Graphic

Conditions For Success Graphic

Family Engagement Continuum Graphic

Resource Highlight for Agencies:

Agencies and policymakers can assess their current level of engagement by utilizing the Center for the Study of Social Policy’s Parent Engagement and Leadership Assessment Guide and Tool.

Resources:

Family Leadership Opportunities:

Provider Professional Development Tools:

Provider Self-Assessment Tools
- Center for the Study of Social Policy: Strengthening Families™ Self-Assessment Tool for Center-Based Early Care and Education Programs (practice-level assessment)
- National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement: Relationship Based Competencies to Support Family Engagement & Professional Development Assessments (practice-level assessment)

Cross-Sector Family Engagement Guidelines
- NC Birth through Third Grade (B-3) Interagency Council Family Engagement Recommended Guidelines
Provider Training Resources
- Brazelton Touchpoints Center
- Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center
- National Association for Family, School and Community Engagement
- Foundations for Families (supports providers’ conversations with families about their child’s learning; FELD-aligned; available in English and Spanish)
- 2021 Strategies for success: Laying foundation for Innovative Family Engagement and Child Find Activities Conference , mini plenary “Tips and Tools from NC’s Family Engagement and Leadership Framework” Session Recording and PowerPoint Presentation.

Equitable Family Engagement

Trauma-Informed Practices with Families