While schools have seen an influx of federal and state dollars for more services to combat the youth mental health crisis, parents have often been overlooked as allies. When supported with information, classes, and ongoing school engagement opportunities, parents can better identify signs of mental distress in their children and ways to increase…

National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) defines family leadership as strategies and services that improve and enhance the leadership skills of parenting adults and that are designed to support families in becoming advocates for themselves, their families, and their communities. This work is accomplished alongside the education and community…

In recent years, the federal Department of Education (ED), and state and local educational agencies (SEAs and LEAs, respectively) have been increasing the emphasis on the need to engage parents and families of students in their children's education. Initiatives have sprung up across the fifty states and Washington, D.C. to help officials at the…

Family learning systems are dependent upon coalitions of institutions, organizations, community members, and families who engage in deep, comprehensive work bringing together a continuum of programs and resources-- spanning birth through adulthood--in family literacy, family engagement, and family leadership. These intentional efforts will create…

A defining feature of Head Start is its whole-family approach where programs partner with parents and guardians to identify their strengths and needs, set goals, and access services to improve family wellbeing. However, little research evidence exists about how Head Start and Early Head Start staff members do this essential work. The "Head…

Research and practice emphasize the importance of family involvement in early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, in order to address the unique and diverse challenges of families, support and resources may need to be prescribed on a case-by-case basis. This article suggests ways early intervention programs can…

The Faculty of Lifelong Learning at the Institute of Technology Carlow co-created a Level 8 Certificate in Prevention, Partnership and Family Support with Tusla, the national Child and Family Agency. The part time programme was aimed at Child and Family Support Network (CFSN) members in Co. Carlow. The overall approach taken throughout this…

Young multilingual learners are a highly diverse group who benefit from high-quality classroom instruction that includes rich language and literacy development opportunities. However, some of these children will experience academic difficulties even with robust support. It can be challenging to distinguish between their language learning needs and…

The aim of this essay is to reflect on an alternative pedagogical model, family workshops, and see how they can serve as an unconventional approach to family engagement, as well as provide a practical recount of the work developed by the LISELL-B Project. This alternative and innovative model may serve as a practical guide for educators,…

The State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate's occupational therapy (OT) Program has worked over the last decade and a half providing advanced training in early intervention (EI) through 3 OT programs for practicing and preservice occupational therapists. There are many challenges in the preparation of entry-level practitioners to work…

The purpose of this article is to describe an approach that early educators can use to develop meaningful partnerships with families. Specifically, the authors describe their efforts to support teachers in developing home-school connections through a series of Family Projects that strengthened family-child relationships and created opportunities…

Families can be the most influential factor in successful employment and life planning for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), often leading them on the path to employment by serving as role models for work ethic and behavior. Yet families often lack the knowledge to move employment from an abstract belief to a real job.…

Research clearly shows the lasting effects of early developmental experiences on children's later success and well-being; however, the early childhood field struggles to provide consistent high-quality care and education across a fragmented delivery system. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the programs for young children age 0-3. In 2013, the…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Florida Urban League (CFUL), which focuses on combating the social, racial, and economic challenges that African American communities face, believed remote learning would exacerbate educational and economic gaps. Recognizing both the need to stave off academic losses and the opportunity to implement a…

Youth are natural scientists at birth, discovering and exploring their world and trying to make sense of it (Bers, 2008). A child's education is not limited to just the time they spend in the classroom. Children learn at home with their families, in public libraries, or through out-of-school-time (OST) experiences provided at community centers and…