Family Engagement System Level Strategies
The system level domain provides links to concepts, methods, plans of action, processes, and/or policies designed to assist agencies and systems engage families to improve outcomes for families and children.
Child Welfare
- A Guide for Father Involvement in Systems of Care (PDF - 1,024)
- Continuous Quality Improvement
- How to Develop a Culturally Responsive and Inclusive Child Welfare System
- Create culturally inclusive development and implementation processes throughout the child welfare system
- Ask probing questions
- Whom do we serve?
- Whom do we serve well?
- Whom do we not serve, and why?
- Whom do we not serve well and why?
- How does the culture of our clients influence their experiences?
- How does their sociocultural context contribute to their distress and to their healing?
- What organizational changes do we need to make to make a difference?
- Establish a data system to capture information about the composition and characteristics of populations being served by the child welfare system
- Use the data to develop a new or improved practice model, to develop services to fit the populations served, and to make appropriate decisions regarding outreach and collaboration
- Identify and reach out to cultural leaders in the community
- Include community leaders and other representatives from the clients' cultures on advisory and planning committees
- Establish specific workgroups to target cultural issues within the child welfare system
- Develop, in collaboration with the cultural leaders, specific, coordinated plans to address cultural and language issues
- Cultural Resources
- Building a Culturally Responsive Workforce: The Texas Model for Undoing Disproportionality & Disparities in Child Welfare
- Alliance for Racial Equity in Child Welfare
- Engaging LGBT Families: How Leaders Can Build Agency Competency (PDF - 95 KB)
- Engaging LGBT Families: Important Conversations in Child Welfare(PDF - 94KB)
- Working With LGBTQ Youth and Families
- Family and Parent Leadership
- Parents Anonymous
- Parent Partner Programs
- Parent Partner Program Navigator: Designing and Implementing Parent Partner Programs in Child Welfare
- Parent Partner Program Readiness Assessment Tool: A Matrix to Assess Existing Capacity and Capacity Building Needs
- From the Courthouse to the Statehouse: Parents as Partners in Child Welfare (PDF - 188 KB)
- "National Foster Care Month: Implementing Parent Partner Programs and Supporting Reunification" [Webinar]
- Partnering with Parents: Promising Approaches to Improve Reunification for Children in Foster Care
- System Reform
- Creating Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Systems: A Guide for Administrators
- Developing a Trauma-Informed Child Welfare System (PDF - 412 KB)
- Engaging Families in System Reform
- A Vision for a Better Child Welfare System (PDF - 160,768 KB)
- Iowa's Partnering With Parents for Systems Change: Final Implementation Project Report
- Training on Family Engagement
- Working with Incarcerated Parents and Their Children
- Child Welfare Practice with Families Affected by Parental Incarceration (PDF - 401 KB)
- Directory of Programs Serving Children & Families of the Incarcerated
- Promoting Social and Emotional Well-Being for Children of Incarcerated Parents
- Guide for Incarcerated Parents Who Have Children in the Child Welfare System (PDF - 612 KB)
- "Engaging Incarcerated Parents" [Training] (PDF - 1,024 KB)
- "Leading Those Who Engage Incarcerated Parents: Training Outline" (PDF- 463 KB)
- Engaging and Involving Youth: Youth Advisory Boards
Juvenile Justice
- Facility Toolkit for Engaging Families in Their Child's Education at a Juvenile Justice Facility
- Training on Family Engagement
- Partnering with Families
- Engaging Families in Juvenile Justice Systems Change
- "Family Engagement in Juvenile Justice Mental Health - Making It Real" webinar
- Focus on Youth and Families: A Guide for Conducting Focus Groups with Youth and Families Impacted by the Juvenile Justice System (PDF - 2,911 KB)
- FAMILY Comes First: A Workbook to Transform the Justice System by Partnering With Families: Executive Summary
- Engaging Juvenile Justice System-Involved Families
- "Increasing Youth Voice and Leadership" webinar
- The Role of Family Engagement in Creating Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice Systems
Behavioral Health
- Behavioral Health Planning and Advisory Councils
The Federal government requires each State to maintain a mental health planning and advisory council (MHPAC) that advocates for adults with serious mental illnesses and for children with emotional disturbances, as well as monitor and review the State's mental health services each year. These councils must consist of various stakeholders, including adults with serious mental illnesses and families of children with emotional disturbances. In recent years, States have combined resources for mental health and substance use, which has resulted in the transition of some councils from MHPACs to behavioral health planning councils.
- Ensuring Stakeholder and Family Engagement in Organizational Oversight of Community Behavioral Health Services [Webinar]
- Patient and Family Advisory Councils
Education
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Guidance and Frameworks for Engaging Families
- Parent and Family Engagement Provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act (PDF- 350 KB)
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education Policy Statement on Family Engagement From the Early Years to the Early Grades (PDF - 1,110 KB)
- The Dual Capacity Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships (PDF - 294 KB)
- Parent Engagement From Preschool Through Grade 3: A Guide for Policymakers (PDF - 1,009 KB)
- Engaging Families in Education (PDF - 642 KB)
- Effective Strategies for Dropout Prevention
- Beyond the Bake Sale: A Community-Based Relational Approach to Parent Engagement in Schools (PDF - 1,090 KB)
- Beyond Random Acts: Family, School, and Community Engagement as an Integral Part of Education Reform (PDF - 452 KB)
- "Link It to Learning: Concrete Tips for Making Family Engagement Happen" [Video]
- District/State Family Engagement Frameworks
- Parental Incarceration
- Cultural Engagement Practices
- "An Innovative Collective Parent Engagement Model for Families and Neighborhoods in Arrival Cities"
- School Communication in Parents' Native Language
- Family Engagement: A Critical Component to Building an Empowering Culture in the Kansas Multi-Tier System of Supports (MTSS) (PDF - 241 KB)
- "Engaging Hispanic Families: Overcoming Challenges to Enrich Lives" [Webinar]
- Parent as Partners and Leaders
Early Childhood Education
- Recommendations for Implementing Family Engagement Practices Across Systems
- Plan for and prioritize family engagement
- Communicate consistent messages that support strong family engagement
- Invest and allocate adequate resources and support to facilitate implementing family engagement practices
- Establish policies, procedures, and practices that support family engagement at the State and system levels
- Guidance and Frameworks for Engaging Families of Early Learners
- Parent and Family Engagement Provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act (PDF- 350 KB)
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education Policy Statement on Family Engagement From the Early Years to the Early Grades (PDF 1,110 KB)
- The Dual Capacity Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships (PDF - 294 KB)
- National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement
- The Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework: Promoting Family Engagement and School Readiness, From Prenatal to Age 8 (PDF - 1,070 KB)
- Parent Engagement from Preschool Through Grade 3: A Guide for Policymakers (PDF - 1,009 KB)
- District/State Family Engagement Frameworks
- Parents as Partners and Leaders
- Engaging Diverse Families
- Home Visiting
- Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) and Family Engagement
- Strengthening Families
- Using Student Data to Engage Parents
The Family Engagement Inventory: A Brief Cross-Disciplinary Synthesis: System-Level Strategies (PDF - 315 KB)
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