1 Defining Family Engagement and Partnership
Families are an essential part of childhood. What do we mean by “family?” For our purposes, we think about the family as the most immediate circle of important adults, adolescents, and children who consistently influence, and make decisions for, a child. When we (the authors of this text) discuss a family structure, we refer to those who live in a home together as well as those who comprise an extended family, looking after one another’s children, co-parenting across households, or interacting in additional care giving ways.
Working with children requires a partnership with the most important people in their lives. As professional educators and clinicians, we often work with children for a year (or even a few years) but families are part of each child’s life for much longer. Professionals have specific, detailed knowledge about their field. Families have detailed knowledge about their children, as well as their hopes and dreams for them. Part of understanding and supporting children is learning about their families.
For quite some time, educators and clinicians typically viewed family involvement or engagement as outreach to families during school and agency centered events such as parent-teacher conferences, field days, science fairs, bake sales, and other activities that take place primarily on school or clinic property on a specific day and time. Families were invited to be involved in activities, but they were often viewed by professionals as the passive recipients of information. Simply put, communication was often one-directional as school and clinic personnel shared information, but didn’t solicit input. Here, we again make a distinction between feedback and input. Completing a survey about an event may serve as feedback, but suggesting topics for discussion at a conference is input. Below, you can check your own understanding of these key terms by thinking about common means by which professionals communicate with families.
