9 Shifting Our Thinking Around Challenges and Barriers

As we discussed in the introduction, the very way we conceptualize what this work is necessary to doing it effectively. Do we consider family partnership an extra responsibility that we add when we have time? Or is family partnership central to our work and threaded throughout? As Weiss, Lopez, and Caspe (2018) encourage, we must move toward valuing families’ priorities and collaboratively designing learning opportunities for their children.

Achieving this requires a major shift in thinking—a shift from devaluing and doing to and for families to one of valuing and cocreating with them. –Weiss, Lopez, & Caspe, 2018, p. 5

As a professional, you may ask, What do I do if multiple families have different priorities for their children? Am I supposed to focus on all of them? Should I veer from a school, division, or agency curriculum? Remember that the term partnership encompasses both parties’ perspectives, expertise, and ideas. You, the educator or clinician, bring expertise regarding developmentally appropriate outcomes, professional knowledge, and understanding of the organizational functions in which you work and children grow. Important adults in a child’s life bring expertise about their child, the needs and strengths at home, and their cultural background.

At the beginning of this chapter we asked, Who decides what is best for a child? The ideal situation is one where the family decides in partnership with educators and clinicians who work with their child. There is no single entity or person who should make all recommendations. Effective communication and partnership principles will help you respond to varied priorities while also responding to your responsibilities as an employee of your school, clinic, or agency. We will take a deeper dive into difficult conversations like these in part six.