Parent, Family and Community Engagement

Listening to the Head Start parent stories reminded me of my own Head Start parent story.  I first started working in Head Start then I was able to take my child to the local Head Start when she was three years old.  I was able to attend the Parent Policy Conference and it was a great experience to see the impact Head Start has on parents across the nation.  These stories provided that same opportunity.  When Head Start first began part of the mission was to hire and train great parent volunteers.  When they began the increased education levels for teachers some of that focus shifted, but the mission still remains to build strong families. 

I was a bit of skeptic when I first started working for Head Start and the value of home visit, until I went on a home visit where the family really was in need of many essential items to operate a home.  They did not have plates or silverware at the home so they were eating off of paper towel and if we had never gone on the home visit this is a need we were able to assist with, but might have never know about without the home visit. 

It is critical for policymakers and government officials to hear the parents stories because they can share with such passion that it makes a difference.  One of the first things any good advocate learns is to develop your own story that provides perspective, meaning and passion.  Yes, statistics and data are important, but to share a real life story with passion means so much more and can provide greater impact.

I think parent involvement is important for all strand of Head Start because the families of low income children are worried about standards and if their child will be ready for school.  They especially worry about funding because that will impact their ability to send their child to this great comprehensive program.  Parents can benefit by the professional development provided to the Head Start teachers because in some cases they can attend the training with the teachers as a volunteer or they will benefit through the strategies the teachers learn and will share with parents at meetings.  One of the ladies talked about the family advocate encouraging her to join the policy council so that is how parent involvement is impacted through the technical assistance.  Parent involvement is critical for the programs to successfully meet their goals on the monitoring visits by the federal government.  They interview parents so without high quality parent involvement the Head Start program will not be able to continue with funding.  There have been many parent involvement research studies and the impact is has on the child's learning as well as the home life of the family unit.  Lastly, without high quality parent and family involvement Head Start is not set apart from a typical child care program.

These stories were inspiring, eye-opening and provided critical insight to the value of Head Start for these families and the families like them that did not share their own story.