CHAPTER 7: BUILDING
TRUSTING COLLABORATIVE
RELATIONSHIPS WITH
FAMILIES
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Explain the importance of relationships between ECE program and families.
Describe ways programs and teachers can facilitate trusting relationships with families.
Differentiate parent involvement from family engagement.
Defend the importance of recognizing families as having the primary role in children's
lives.
Define ways for programs to empower families.
Describe effective communication strategies.
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INTRODUCTION
"A growing body of research suggests that meaningful engagement of families in their
children's early learning supports school readiness and later academic success" (NAEYC 2009;
Henrich and Gadaire 2008; Weiss, Caspe, and Lopez 2006). Programs and teachers who strive to
build genuine partnerships with the parents, guardians, and other primary caregivers at home
and encourage families to become active participants in their child's early learning and
development help families to become advocates for their children. "High levels of engagement
often result from strong program-family partnerships that are co-constructed and
characterized by trust, shared values, ongoing bidirectional communication, mutual respect,
and attention to each party's needs (Lopez, Kreider, and Caspe 2004; NAEYC 2009, 6).
In addition, early childhood education programs have learned that when they can effectively
partner with families, young children benefit and families are more likely to maintain
involvement with school settings across the years. By strengthening family engagement during
the early years, particularly with families from diverse backgrounds, families that have children
with disabilities or other special needs, and families with dual language learners, early
childhood education (ECE) programs can help to reduce the achievement gap.
When programs strive to build trusting, open, and collaborative relationships with families and
genuinely seek the family's input to inform program planning, family members receive the
message that they play a key role in their child's development and learning. In efforts to
establish strong links between home and the early care and education setting, programs and
92 | Child, Family, and Community
teachers focus on developing strategies for family collaboration and being responsive to each
family's home language.
BUILDING AND MAINTAINING POSITIVE
RELATIONSHIPS WITH FAMILIES
Honest, caring, understanding, and respectful exchanges with family members lead to their
sharing important information with teachers that help to inform how to care and support each
child's learning and development. Taking the time to find out from family members about their
child's unique characteristics and needs plays an important role in providing teachers with the
information needed to set up appropriate learning environments for individual children.
Establishing positive relationships with families helps to bridge children's experiences between
the program and home, and it fosters children's sense of belonging in the early education
setting
Figure 7.1 - When there is a trusting relationship that values the family, it is easier for parents to trust the care of
their children to early educators.62
Teachers view families as children's first teachers and seek their assessments of a child's needs,
interests, and abilities. Different families and communities have different views and
expectations of three through five-year-olds. The effective early childhood educator recognizes,
understands, and respects the values of children's families and communities and attempts to
make the environment as congruent with those values as possible. In high-quality early
childhood programs, the teacher speaks frequently with family members and, whenever
appropriate, strengthens the links between the home and program. Frequent communication
between program staff and family members is important, especially in the case of children with
disabilities or other special needs. Through collaboration with families, preschool teachers can
gain insight into ways in which they can be important contributors to the child's learning and
development. To support children's learning across home and school contexts, the program can
encourage family participation in activities at the early care and education program.63
62 Image by the department of Education is used with permission
63 California Preschool Program Guidelines by the department of Education is used with permission (pg. 40-41)
93 Child, Family, and Community
Family Engagement 64
"Family engagement with schools has been linked to important outcomes
for children of all families, including families with children who are dual
language learners ... Numerous positive developmental child outcomes
have been associated with family engagement, including early literacy skills,
cognitive and language development skills ... socio-emotional skills ...
and academic achievement."
Source: State Advisory Council on Early Learning and Care 2013, Paper 4,
Family Engagement, 121.
Programs and Teachers Build Relationships with Families
Programs convey an important message to families when they seek their views and collaborate
with them in the care of their children. This message helps family members understand that
their preferences and their concerns about the learning and development of their child are
important to teachers and program leaders. When a teacher has open, honest, and
understanding relationships with family members, the resulting links between the home and
the early care and education setting often help their child feel safe and comfortable.
Programs
Support the participation of all family members, being responsive to their cultural,
linguistic, and economic differences, as well as to any disabilities or special needs of the
children or a family member.
Involve family members in making decisions about the program and its policies.
Recognize and acknowledge that teen parents are still adolescents developmentally
even though they are in an adult role as parents.
Provide a way for families to give feedback to the program, such as regular evaluations
or opportunities for informal discussion.
Schedule regular meetings, social times, and other special events for families so that
they can learn more about the program, get to know each other and staff members, and
build a sense of community
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Communication
Seek and consider families' views when identifying and hiring new staff members.
Create an area for posting information for families (daily notices, outside services, child
development information, community events, and job and education opportunities).
Encourage communication between teachers and family members at the beginning and
end of each day.
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64 California Preschool Program Guidelines by the department of Education is used with permission (pg. 40-41)
94 Child, Family, and Community
Teachers
Share a child's records with his or her family, including assessment information on the
child's learning, experiences, and developmental progress.
Learn about the different families in the program.
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Communication
Engage in a two-way exchange of ideas, preferences, and child-rearing philosophies
during the first meetings with family members, setting the tone for future
communication.
Listen, reflect, and respond when family members communicate concerns and ideas
about their child.
Initiate discussions with families to understand and resolve issues when they arise.
Engage in communication with family members at the beginning and end of each day
about the child's care, activities, interests, and moods.
Communicate to family members that they are always welcome to visit or call to check
on their child.
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Reflective Practice
Explore in discussions with family members both families' and teachers' assumptions about
young children and how they learn.65
Moving from Parent Involvement to Family Engagement
Family Engagement as Parent Involvement
Parent involvement refers to parent participation in the systems and activities the early
childhood education program in ways that support them as the primary educators, nurturers
and advocates for individual children and for all children enrolled in the program. Parent
involvement refers to opportunities for parent participation in a variety of program activities
that support child and adult development, including policy and program decision-making.
Family engagement refers to ongoing, goal-directed relationships between staff and families
that are mutual, culturally responsive, and that support what is best for children and families
both individually and collectively. Staff and families share responsibility for the learning and
development of children, the progress toward outcomes for children and families, and for
parent involvement in the program. Parent involvement is a part of this larger construct of
family engagement.
Table 7.1 - Examples that Illustrate the Shift66
65 https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/Cd/re/documents/itguidelines.pdf
Page 59 - 60
66
https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/fam-engage-parent-inv.pdf
The entire page including the graph
95 Child, Family, and Community
Parent Involvement
Family Engagement
Parent Involvement is primarily the
Family engagement is embedded in the work
responsibility of family services staff (or of all staff members, management systems
parent involvement specialists, home visitors, and leadership priorities.
or transition specialists).
Parent involvement might revolve around Family engagement focuses on evidence of
outputs-for example, the number of positive, goal directed relationships, for
parents who show up at a meeting.
example, that result in family progress in one
(or more) of the seven outcome areas.
Parent involvement works with a small % of Through ongoing relationships, family
families involved in leadership opportunities members are engaged in a variety of goal
(policy council, parent meetings, special directed ways related to Parent and Family
events).
Engagement Outcomes.
Programs that involve parents collect data Programs that engage families use child and
from children and families-for example, family data to improve services. These
information about parent participation. programs help families understand and use
child data to support their children's progress
and development.
Engaging and Collaborating with Families
Programs
• Develop and implement program policies that give families and staff members
opportunities to observe and discuss children's development and behavior
• Support families by providing tools and resources that help them contribute to their
children's learning.
Invite families to participate formally and informally in the development, governance,
and evaluation of program services and policies, as appropriate.
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Teachers
Recognize that working with families promotes children's development.
Build relationships with families to ensure meaningful two-way collaboration,
supporting the children's learning and development and helping families to understand
child development.
• Attentively greet family members when they arrive and depart from the program
setting, and use those opportunities to exchange information about the family's child.
Contribute ideas and resources to promote each child's learning and development in the
home and community.
Collaborate formally and informally with families and colleagues to share observations,
describe children's accomplishments, plan for children individually and as a group, and
address concerns about children.
• Support families as decision makers for and educators of their children.
96 | Child, Family, and Community
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Actively solicit and listen to families' goals, aspirations, and concerns about their
children's development.
Figure 7.2 - Children thrive when their families are engaged and included in their early childhood education
program.
Home Language
Programs
Create strategies to engage family members from diverse linguistic and cultural
backgrounds and invite family members to share goals and strategies for supporting
children's home languages in the group or classroom. This may require the use of
interpreters and translators (please see table 6.2, “Sample Family Languages and
Interests Interview," in chapter 6 as a way to gather important information from
families).
Teachers
Learn a few words in each child's home language, such as greetings, names of family
members, words of comfort, and important objects or places. Parents and other family
members can be good resources for learning their language.
Seek and use resources to facilitate communication with family members in their home
language, ensuring that all families are included.
67 Image from the California Department of Education is used with permission
97 Child, Family, and Community
Knowledge of Families
Programs
Develop or adapt program policies, based on knowledge of the families and on their
input and feedback, to support family engagement in the program.
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Teachers
Gather information from family members and engage in direct, effective communication
to learn about family composition, values, and traditions to support the primary role of
families in their children's care and education and to engage families in the early
education setting.
Learn about each family's values, beliefs, and practices by observing and engaging
family members in conversation or by communicating with other staff members as
appropriate.
Find out about each family's language preferences and language goals for the child.
Refer to and use pertinent family information when responding to needs of children and
families.
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Parent-Child History and Relationships
Programs
Develop program policies that support children's relationships with their adult
caregivers at home.
Provide professional development for staff on facilitating parent-child relationships and
identifying areas of concern.
Provide resources or consultation as appropriate to address concerns related to
children's relationships with adult caregivers at home.
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Teachers
Understand that all children develop in the context of relationships and that the quality
of children's interactions with adult caregivers at home has an impact on child
outcomes.
Follow program policies or practices designed to support relationships between children
and adult family members.
Use a variety of techniques to facilitate and reinforce positive interaction between
children and adult family members and support each adult family member's capacity to
be responsive and sensitive to the child.
Understand that culture influences approaches to nurturing young children.
Identify concerns related to children's relationships with adult family members and
follow up as appropriate.
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99 Child, Family, and Community
Programs Create a Climate in Which Family Members Feel
Empowered and comfortable as Advocates for Their
Children.
When programs and teachers engage in open, respectful communication with family members
and strive to develop positive, collaborative relationships with them, family members feel
included and empowered. The experience of authentically contributing to their children's
experiences in preschool helps family members become advocates for their children both
within the program and in interactions with other service providers. For example, they are
more likely to seek or request services for their children, such as referrals to special education,
when needed or appropriate.
Programs can help families with dual language learners recognize their families' cultural and
linguistic strengths and learn the skills to ask for the types of services that they think will
benefit their children. Families should be encouraged to share their strengths with the program
and be asked to participate in joint goal setting and decision making about their children's
education. The entire program benefits when educators incorporate diverse cultures,
languages, and talents of families with dual language learners into the program's learning
environment and curriculum. Once family members feel their contributions and opinions are
valued, programs will benefit from their knowledge and experience.
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Empowerment of Families
Programs
• Develop an open-door policy that encourages family members to visit the classroom or
center at any time.
Encourage families to offer recommendations for the program's structure and
curriculum and to observe the ways in which their contributions are used in the setting.
Invite families to share their areas of expertise with the teacher, other families, and the
children in the program.
Ensure all families have the opportunity to participate in a policymaking capacity or
leadership role (e.g., as members of a board of directors or advisory board).
• Develop a climate statement that expresses the program's appreciation of cultural and
linguistic diversity and share the statement with both staff and families.
Invite families with young dual language learners to participate formally as part of
groups that contribute to decisions for the program (e.g., boards, committees, and the
like), and to share on an ongoing basis their ideas on how to support and engage with
families.
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Teachers
• Solicit help from family members in solving problems their child may be having in an
early care and education setting.
Invite families to volunteer regularly and to participate in activities.
100 Child, Family, and Community
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Hold conferences regularly, not just when there is a problem with the child.
Figure 7.3 - When families are welcome in the early education environment, their children thrive. 69
Programs Support Teachers' Responsiveness to the
Families' Goals for Their Children's Development and
School Readiness.
The most successful opportunities for parent engagement are those that address the ideas of
parents about their roles in their children's education and their sense of efficacy in helping their
children to succeed in early childhood programs (Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler 1997). Working
with parents to define shared goals helps to strengthen the home-school partnership. In
particular, when programs and teachers work to integrate school and family experiences,
implement school-readiness practices, and identify strategies for school readiness and
transitions, both families and their children benefit.
Researchers have found that preschoolers achieved at higher levels when families and teachers
shared similar child centered beliefs and practices. Thus, it is important that programs ask all
families to collaborate and participate in joint goal setting for their children, and to ask families
with dual language learners and those families who have children with disabilities or other
special needs, about effective strategies and the contexts in which their children learn best.
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Integrating School and Family Experiences
Programs
Explain the program's philosophy on school readiness to classroom staff and families,
with consideration for each child's level of development.
Incorporate the role of family members in facilitating their children's transition from
preschool to kindergarten.
Ensure that families with young dual language learners are included as partners in their
children's education. Families should be consulted regarding their children's early
.
69 California Preschool Program Guidelines by the California Department of Education is used with permission
101 Child, Family, and Community
language learning experiences, their educational goals for their children, and the
educational progress of their children.
Ensure that families of young children with disabilities or other special needs are
included as partners in their education. Families should be consulted regarding their
children's unique learning needs, their educational goals for their children, and the
educational progress of their children.
Invite families to collaborate with program staff on long-term language development
and learning goals for their children. Actively recruit families to participate in classroom
activities.
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Teachers
Respond to children and family members in ways that encourage them to share family
experiences.
Share information about children's experiences in the early education setting with
families.
• Support each child's home language and culture at home and at school.
Maintain confidentiality of family and child information as appropriate.
• Design early education environments that reflect the diverse experiences of children
and families.
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Implementation of School- Readiness Practices
Programs
Collaborate with local transitional kindergarten and kindergarten programs, schools,
and support staff in preparing children and families for upcoming transitions.
Provide professional development activities for staff on school-readiness issues,
including developmentally appropriate practice, communication with families, and
social-emotional competence.
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Teachers
Describe the program's philosophy on school readiness and transitions.
Engage in discussions with families about children's experiences in the group or
classroom as the experiences relate to school readiness and transitions.
• Respond to questions from families or refer them to appropriate staff for inquiries
related to school readiness.
• Articulate that school entry is one milestone in the context of a developmental and
educational continuum.
Include all families as partners in the education of their children with attentiveness to
families whose home language is not English.
102 Child, Family, and Community
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Teachers
Respect each family's style and preferred method of communication and interact with
families in a transparent, accountable manner.
Interact with families in a timely and professional manner to establish relationships that
encourage mutual, two-way exchange of information about children.
Maintain confidentiality and ensure privacy in communications regarding children,
families, and staff and colleagues.
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Figure 7.4 - Open communication is vital to the relationships between families and teachers.70
Family Preferences for Communication
Programs
Interpret and apply communication policies (as appropriate) to ensure that diverse
families are included and complex situations are addressed.
• Help staff to understand and apply communication styles based on each family's
expressed needs and preferences.
Ensure that all communications are accessible and comprehensible to families (i.e., in
the family's preferred language).
Teachers
Use various ways to communicate with families (e.g., active listening, e-mail and
telephone contact, text messaging), depending on each family's preferences and on the
situation.
Model for families effective strategies for communicating with children, adapt strategies
for communicating with children, and adapt strategies (as needed) to meet diverse
language and literacy needs.71
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70
Image by the California Department of Education is used with permission
71 California Preschool Program Guidelines by the California Department of Education is used with permission (pg.
130-135)
104 Child, Family, and Community
Strategies for School Readiness and Transitions
Programs
Coordinate developmentally appropriate experiences to support children's school
readiness in all developmental domains, anticipating upcoming transitions to new
programs or schools.
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Teachers
Know the previous early care and education experiences of children in the group and
plan for upcoming transitions to new programs or schools.
• Identify indicators of school readiness and developmental precursors of school
readiness, as appropriate, for the ages of the children served.
Programs and Teachers Use Effective Communication
Strategies That Reflect the Diversity of Families Served
Honoring diversity strengthens relationships with families and children, thereby enhancing the
quality of care and education for preschool children (adapted from CDE 2006, 57–58). Being
responsive to cultural, linguistic, and economic differences and how these differences affect the
ways in which programs and teachers communicate with families demonstrates a program's
commitment to each family's unique strengths. Programs and teachers can work to enhance
their communication strategies, attending carefully to individual differences in family
preferences for communication.
Two-way communication strategies have been found to be particularly effective with families
with dual language learners who may otherwise feel disconnected from the program. Two-way
communication allows both parties to share information about the learning progress and well-
being of the dual language learner and to collaborate on ways to help the child reach important
learning goals. This type of communication works well during one-on-one meetings with the
teacher or in a more informal setting such as in the community or in a group setting with other
families with dual language learners of similar linguistic backgrounds. Regular two-way
communication may be the first step toward increasing family engagement and key to
developing strong dual language learner family-program partnerships.
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Communication Strategies
Programs
Provide professional development for staff on the principles of and strategies for
effective communication with families.
Ensure confidentiality and privacy in communications throughout the program.
Develop a language and communication policy that informs families with young dual
language learners on the possible modes to communicate with staff.
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103 | Child, Family, and Community
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