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When adults come together to support children, profound changes can happen. To reinforce parents, caregivers, and early learning professionals in their work to create strong partnerships, Trying Together created the Family Engagement Toolkit.

About

When early learning programs implement family engagement practices, they invite parents, caregivers, and other important adults to learn the best ways to connect, build trust, and join in true partnership for the wellbeing of their child. In fact, research shows that active family engagement leads to better outcomes for children and builds stronger learning communities.

In an effort to support caregivers in bolstering their family engagement practice, Trying Together created the Family Engagement Toolkit, an online toolkit of printable resources that enable families and early childhood educators to:

• • access strategies that strengthen the relationships that nourish a child’s growth and sense of belonging,
  • find ideas and resources to enrich relationships in their learning community,
  • learn ways to increase equity and access for all involved, and
  • take the opportunity to reflect on the family engagement practices in their home or program.

The Toolkit is best suited for families and child care providers of children ages birth to nine years old. The Toolkit provides information and resources on family engagement practices in a variety of settings, including: child care centers, family child care homes, group child care homes, and relative provider locations. For more information, visit our About the Family Engagement Toolkit page.

Featured Resources

Trying Together’s Family Engagement Toolkit includes resources for families and child care providers. Continue reading below to view some of our featured resources.

Resources for Families

Each family brings its own unique talents, customs, and vibrancies to their child’s child care program. Because of this, it is essential that each family offers its own knowledge, lived experiences, and partnership to best support their child. To assist in this process, Trying Together developed the following resources:

• • Create an Engagement Plan for your family.

• • Fill out this questionnaire to help your provider learn more about your family.

• • Learn about your rights as a parent or caregiver.

• • Access a curated list of family resources on topics such as Choosing a Child Care Provider, Preparing for Transition, Anti-Racism Tools, Child Behavioral and Mental Health Support, Child Development Milestones, English as a Second Language Support, Food Assistance, and more.

Resources for Providers

Family engagement is a process in which educators and families build intentional, authentic relationships toward the shared goal of supporting a child’s healthy growth and development. To assist providers in achieving this goal, Trying Together developed the following resources:

• • Download the Family Engagement Toolkit to access family engagement ideas and resources.
• • Use this questionnaire to get to know more about the families you serve.
• • “My Day” documents can help communicate about the child’s day (infant and toddlers) (pre-k).
• • Create a Family Engagement Plan.
• • Create a Provider Family Engagement Plan.
• • Create a Relative Provider Family Engagement Plan.
• • Access a curated list of provider resources on topics such as Creating a Family EngagementPlan, Making the First Connection, Strengthening Existing Connections, Supporting Transition, Professional Development, and more.

More Information

Support, inspiration, and insight for the Family Engagement Toolkit were drawn from several sources, including Jefferson Regional Foundation. To view the full Toolkit, visit our Family Engagement Toolkit page. For assistance with creating a family engagement plan, contact Trying Together at 412.421.3889 or info@tryingtogether.org.