Area 3: family Knowledge and Engagement
Maximizing Family Knowledge and Engagement in Child Development
Parents and families are the central actors in their child’s development, and the science of child development points to the critical period from conception through birth through early childhood as foundational for every human being’s physical, emotional, and intellectual wellbeing. Maximizing families’ knowledge of child development and engaging them in basic activities that reflect best practices in nurturing optimal child development is fundamental to ensuring children have a great start in life.
Key Priorities for Collective Action
Provide families with opportunities to develop leadership and advocacy skills to support their children’s development. (BB2 ii, drawn from the Hawaiʻi Early Childhood State Plan, 2019-2024)*
* The work group chose to focus on 1) families experiencing unstable housing and 2) younger, lower income families with infants and toddlers (Birth-3). While these are the primary foci, the intention is that the implementation plan be valuable to other efforts focused on families as well.
Promote early childhood evidence-based and developmental best practices and materials from the science of early childhood development in all early childhood care and education settings. (BB3 vi, partial, drawn from the Hawaiʻi Early Childhood State Plan, 2019-2024)
Objective 1: Family-Focused
Develop and implement learning opportunities for families utilizing best practice materials and models that build their capacity to be engaged in their child's development.
Champions
Early Childhood Action Strategy:
Team 2: Safe & Nurturing Families
Team 3: On-Track Health & Development
Team 4: Equitable Access to Programs & Services
Team 6: School Readiness for Successful Transitions – Words Matter (LENA) Subcommittee
Executive Office on Early Learning
Family Hui Hawaiʻi
Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network; Little Minds Matter Steering Team
Partners in Development Foundation– Ka Paʻalana
Actions
Develop and/or distribute materials for use with and by families in multiple ways and for all types of settings, drawing on recognized best practices (e.g., Alberta Family Wellness Initiative, Centers for Disease Control, Family Hui Hawaiʻi, Head Start, Little Minds Matter, Parents as Teachers, Partners in Development – Ka Paʻalana, VROOM).
Housing, Shelter and Outreach partners, in collaboration with the Child Homelessness Action Team (CHAT), make early childhood development information and early learning opportunities available for families experiencing homelessness or unstable housing.
Develop and implement community-based learning opportunities for families that support child wellbeing and growth.
Indicators of Success
Families demonstrate increased knowledge and awareness of child development and available resources.
5-10 homeless programs are making early childhood development resources available to families.
Play spaces promoting parent/child interaction are created and utilized in shelters, transitional, and public housing.
3-5 new sites in prioritized geographic and cultural communities have trained community-based leaders and are working with families.
Long-term: Children birth to five whose families are experiencing homelessness or unstable housing are connected with early care and education programs and/or services.
Objective 2: Provider-Focused
Develop and implement learning opportunities for providers of all types utilizing best practice materials and models.
Champions
Department of Human Services
Early Childhood Action Strategy:
Team 1: Healthy & Welcomed Births
Team 2: Safe & Nurturing Families
Team 3: On-Track Health & Development
Team 4: Equitable Access to Programs & Services
Team 5: High Quality Early Learning Programs
Team 6: School Readiness for Successful Transitions
ECAS All Network
PATCH
Actions
Educate early care and education providers of all types and in all settings on early childhood development and on working with vulnerable families, with attention to encouraging their own self-awareness and respect for individual and community cultures (e.g., brain development, poverty simulation, and trauma-informed strategies).
Indicators of Success
Number of trainings delivered has increased.
Number of providers trained has increased.
Providers indicate feeling better prepared to respond to the needs of the vulnerable families they are serving.
Long-Term: There are trauma-informed, mixed delivery system early care and education providers of all types and from all settings serving prioritized geographic and cultural communities.
Objective 3: Community-Focused
Generate increased community understanding and support for family engagement and child development.
Champions
Early Childhood Action Strategy:
Team 4: Equitable Access to Programs & Services
Team 6: School Readiness for Successful Transitions – Words Matter (LENA) Subcommittee
Family Hui Hawaiʻi
Hawaiian Electric Company
Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network
Actions
Design, implement, and expand public education initiatives and campaigns around early childhood topics.
Advocate for large employers taking action in support of families and promoting child development (e.g., HECO/UHA model, UHA Employer Wellness Group program).
Establish a work group to examine emerging models for family engagement and application in Hawaiʻi (e.g., Alberta Family Wellness Initiative, Detroit Model).
Indicators of Success
1-2 business partners are engaged in an education campaign.
At least one Hawaiʻi employer is piloting family wellness practices with their employees.
Long-term: Several large Hawaiʻi employers are implementing best practices supporting families and child development, and exemplar businesses are sharing their experiences and knowledge with other employers.
Objective 4
Ensure the community can prioritize early care and education programs and services based on geographic distribution of priority populations.
Champions
Early Childhood Action Strategy:
Team 4: Equitable Access to Programs & Services – CHAT Subcommittee
Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network
Actions
Secure MOUs with local continuum of care lead organizations (e.g., Partners in Care, Bridging the Gap) to share certain data on families experiencing unstable housing or homelessness, drawing on the HMIS databases.
Develop and report anonymized data by geographic location and ages of family members.
Convene a work group to discuss prioritization of services based on geographically-informed data.
Indicators of Success
MOUs are in place.
Geographic distribution of children birth to five who are experiencing homelessness or unstable housing is available.
Data is being used to set service priorities.
Needs Assessment Summary
Family Knowledge about Child Development
2015-2017
No assessment or baseline study in Hawaiʻi
2020
Families typically acquire developmental information from the child’s physician
Recommendations
Engage in a baseline study on family knowledge and engagement in child development
Family Knowledge about Quality Child Care
2015-2017
No assessment or baseline study in Hawaiʻi
2020
Indicators of quality used by families: caliber of staff, program philosophy, teacher passion, defined learning plans, welcoming atmosphere, and focus on school readiness both academically and social-emotional
Recommendations
Engage in a baseline study on family knowledge about quality child care
Family Knowledge about Available Support Services
2015-2017
Small 2016 study (426 respondents) indicates parents are aware of support services and want more information on activities, development, managing behavior, play groups, public services, and accessing healthy food
2020
No additional information
Family Engagement in Provider-delivered Information on Child Development
2015-2017
Engagement practices by settings:
Center-based: parent/teacher conferences, newsletters, daily journal, social events, invitations to volunteer, referrals if needed
Licensed Family Child Care: similar to centers, but lower rates of engagement from families
Family Child Interaction Learning: similar to centers, plus family-as-teacher practices, engaging families in continuous quality improvement, adapting curricula to cultures and languages of participating families, and providing direct support services such as counseling, home visits and job training
2020
Home visiting professionals report difficulty engaging families who are not interested
Special education and preschool teachers report families are receptive to information
Additional Information
Family Partnership Guidelines for ECE Programs
Embracing Your Journey as Your Child’s First Teacher
Embracing Your Journey Training Module for Families (coming soon)
Embracing Your Journey Train-the-Trainers Training Module (coming soon)
Individual SIP revisions (coming soon)