Families as Team Members in the Coordinated Approach to Disabilities Services

Families as Team Members in the Coordinated Approach to Disabilities Services

Roselia Ramirez: Hi everyone, and welcome to the session. We hope that you are excited as we are about this institute, which has been planned with so many informative sessions. This session is a plenary extension that's titled, Families as Team Members in the Coordinated Approaches to Disability Services. Let's get started by telling you who we are. My name is Roselia Ramirez, and I am a training and technical assistance specialist at the National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning, or DTL for short.

I'm excited to be joined today by our friends at the National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement, or PFCE. Hey, so good to see you. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Yvette Dominguez: Sure. Hello, Roselia. It is a pleasure to be with you today. And it's a pleasure to be with all of you today. My name is Yvette Dominguez. I am with the National Center for Parent, Family, and Community Engagement. And we are excited to have this space with you all today to talk about this important topic.

Roselia: Let's now take a few moments to review with you the intended learning objectives for our session today. By the end of this session, we're hoping that first, you're able to describe why family engagement is critical to supporting families as team members in implementing coordinated approaches to disability services. And then second, you'll be able to identify some practices, strategies, and resources that support that authentic engagement as well as social emotional development and learning.

We want to begin our session by talking about coordinated approaches and family engagement. Family engagement is based on the idea that parents and really families are those key partners in working with those who care for and support their children and family to prepare the child for school, as well as success.

We also want to talk about coordinated approaches. We're bringing together a network and making connections to ensure that our children with identified disabilities have full and effective participation, and that the family is an active team member in the coordinated approach to disability services. Family engagement is everyone's business is the key message that we're wanting to get across.

Let's take a moment and review the Head Start program performance standards. These standards help us to understand and to support why we do what we do. On your screen, we have highlighted the standard that pertains to coordinated approaches. And we want you to notice this word right here. It's kind of circled, that right there – ongoing. We want to emphasize that engagement with families and engagement through your programs' coordinated approaches is an ongoing process.

We want to be sure that our practices are inclusive for full and effective participation of all children with disabilities. This includes things such as appropriate facilities, program materials, curriculum instruction, staffing supervision, as well as those critical partnerships that are important. It's also important that families are included as active team members in our ongoing implementation of our coordinated approaches to really be successful with those Child and Family Outcomes. Now that we've reviewed our why, let's hear from Yvette as she begins our discussion on family engagement.

Yvette: Good morning, again, everybody, and thank you all for joining us. And yes, let's talk about family engagement. Family engagement is that process we use to build genuine relationships with families. And family engagement as a relationship-based approach means programs pay close attention to the emotional quality of interactions, and understanding that relationships are at the center of children's positive long-term development and learning outcomes.

We have allotted some time and some space in your participants guide to write down some reflections. Take a moment and think about these two questions. What does successful engagement look like? And why is it important? Take a moment, think about that, jot that down into your participants guide. And if you'd like, we would love to hear from you. You can put this into our Q&A as well. The more interactions we have from you, and we hear from you, the better.

But let's get into a little bit of our content. Many of you might be familiar with this framework. This is the Head Start parent, family, community engagement framework. And this is our roadmap for everyday practices to support our programs, systems, and services. This is vital for every family because they're unique. And every single family is in a unique situation. And we partner with families to meet them where they are. We can walk alongside them and build mutual trust, respect, and a sense of belonging for any family who might walk into our program.

That's our two arrows. Those are our relationships and our responsiveness. Let's go into our yellow column, which is our program foundations. Our program foundations column contains the program systems and supports that program leadership implements. They implement processes, policies to coordinate program systems; we also have professional development of staff and of leaders to see how each role within your program supports that family engagement, training, and that staff retention.

And lastly, we have continuous learning and quality improvement that involves determining program goals, relationships, strengths and needs through data that directs relationships and systems. Going into our pink column, this is our program impact areas. And our program impact areas is our program services that support family services staff in developing those high-quality environments for everyone. These high-quality learning environments supports relationship building, and valuing families' experiences and perspectives, through family partnerships and promoting children's learning and development through teaching and learning, and families sharing their knowledge about their child.

The last two in our very two important columns are our blue and purple columns. And these are family and child outcomes. This demonstrates the family's positive outcomes through our strong systems and programs' high-quality services. And as programs, as staff, we empower families to reach their goals and encourage children's learning and development to prepare for school and beyond. Also just keep in mind these goals can be individual goals set by the family, partnership agreements, as well as for their child's goals in their IEPs and IFSPs. Just as a reminder, if we build those strong systems and we combine those high-quality services, then we can partner with families as they progress towards those positive child, family outcomes.

With that, let's stay with these outcomes for just a bit. And for today's discussion, will focus on the blue column of the PFCE framework. Specifically, we'll focus on the family outcomes of positive parent/child relationships, families as lifelong educators, families as learners, and families' connection to peers and community.

We want to acknowledge also some practices to support families as our partners and team members through strength-based attitudes. And two or three of these that we'll focus on today is that we want to acknowledge that all families have strengths. And also, we want to acknowledge that families are our partners with a critical role in their child's and family's development. Also, that families' contributions are important and valued. And as a team, we work with families in a coordinated approach through disability services to find solutions to their goals, dreams and create an environment of belonging.

With that, let's talk a little bit about family engagement. And often when we hear the word or the term family involvement, we also hear family engagement. I said that a little bit backwards. I apologize. But what do you think each of these terms mean? And how do they differ? Take a moment, think about that, jot that down into your participants guide and even share your thoughts with us in the Q&A.

But let's explore a little bit of these just a bit more. Family involvement occurs when a parent or family participates in activities and takes advantage of the opportunities in their child's group care or home-based setting. This usually means that the child attends meetings or special events that the program offers. Family involvement may include an exchange of information about the child on what is happening at home or at school. Many times, as program staff, we initiate those interactions and provide that information with resources. We might provide, for example, giving families written information to a family about toilet training about their toddler. It's that exchange of information.

With family engagement, it's a bit different. Family engagement is that process to build those genuine relationships with families, those positive relationships that promote those strong parent/child interactions and relationships, that family well-being and better outcomes for children and families. And the engagement and relationships that we build with families are responsive to their outcomes, using their strengths and needs.

Some of our examples of these are maybe encouraging families to join in and contribute to their child's experiences. For example, this could be asking a family member to share a special talent. Like playing an instrument or telling a story. This can also invite families to plan parent nights with us. Offer input on our curriculums and planning, and join us in leading professional development opportunities for our staff. Because really, they are the experts. They are the experts of their child and can really teach us a lot to support not only the development of their child, but also the development of our program in general.

These engagement and relationships are practiced and demonstrated programwide through our policies, our communication, and our collaboration with our colleagues and families. And these collaborations support and uplift those talents and dreams that families have for themselves as well as for their children.

With that, when we partner with and engage with families, we support that mutual trust and respect, and together, we create this bridge between home and school. And we not only partner with families, but we also partner with our local Part B and Part C providers. And we coordinate and offer specific supports to children and families. And as disability service coordinators, we partner with families to ensure that any IEP or IFSP plan considers the family's observations, concerns, hopes, and knowledge about their child to support their development during everyday routine and activity.

Remember that families are their child's first teachers and are that best source of information about their child's temperament, learning styles, likes, and dislikes. And as a part of this team approach, we can ensure that all information and discussions are conducted in the family's preferred language, address all the family's questions, ideas, hopes, and concerns, and even objections that families raise during the planning process. And we support this bridge, showing that respect for the family's views. And it allows us as program staff and partners with our Part B and Part C partners to adjust plans and practices according to the family's hopes and dreams.

With that, let's talk about some of the benefits that can result in outcomes when families are involved and engaged as full team members. When we engage and partner with families and support children and their development and learning, everyone benefits. We create relationships, trusting with families that positively affect the well-being of both the child and the family, promoting that trust, safety, and encouraging confidence. Families recognized for their expertise, which can spark that interest in collaborating with providers and programs. And effective engagement also promotes communication that can reduce that isolation and confusion about community resources, programs, systems, services for their families.

With that, we also see some benefits that engage families and children in partnership for children and families in creating safe learning environments, where both children and families can learn and grow. Families want the best for their child. We've already established that. We know that – both in and outside of our group cares and home-based settings. Engagement increases that access to ongoing intentional and meaningful interactions with families, which lead to relationships that support children's healthy development and school readiness. But with that, let's turn over to our friend Roselia so she can talk about some resources.

Roselia: Yeah, this is like a great resource that we really wanted to elevate and just share with you. I love to create checklists, because it just helps me keep organized and make sure that I'm covering all my bases. The Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center or ECTA, they develop a checklist that includes steps and actions that you can take to ensure that families are included as full team members, and that they're valued as experts and considered vital to that effective team functioning.

It's important to know that families, they're going to be involved, and they're going to be engaged in various ways and to varying degrees over a period of time. They may not be as involved when they first come into the program. Part of our responsibility as disability services coordinators is to really support families in increasing their level of involvement as their comfort and their trust is developed. And then the team is growing and learning together. And the checklist can help you to determine where you may have some gaps and need some additional work in ensuring that families are active team members in that coordinated approach to disability services. This resource can also be used as a starting point in developing a more individualized tool for your specific program. Yvette, I'll turn it back over to you.

Yvette: Sure, thank you so much for that resource. All families are advocates. And they're leaders in the lives of their children. They advocate for their children's well-being, juggling multiple tasks, solving problems, and making decisions. Families know about their communities that let our programs know about trusted community resources. They know about the churches in their community, cultural organizations that need support or that can support them in their needs.

However, families might not know about disability services in their communities. And some families can be intimidated by this process. For example, they might not know where to begin in that identification process, or how to access related services. As disabilities coordinators, as family services staff, as teachers, all of us as that coordinated approach, we can connect families and support families through those early intervention, and special education programs that not only help children, but also help them build and strengthen their advocacy skills. In this way, families can change the way that communities respond to their needs. And we know that disability service coordinators are encouraging families to advocate for their children.

Let's think back, let's reflect just a little bit of what are some of the ways that you've seen or supported parent advocacy? And how has this contributed to your team's coordinated approach success?

Roselia: Wow, those are really great questions to reflect on.

Yvette: They are.

Roselia: Yeah.

Yvette: But as you all think about that, let's go into discussing some of the ways to create a sense of belonging. And as we hear from you, let's talk about when staff or when disability service coordinators, education staff, or even family service professionals partner with each other to engage with families in connecting with the larger community. This can include our partners with Part C and Part D as they strengthen trusting relationships and support family engagement and advocacy. That results in achieving their outcomes, hopes, dreams, for their families.

In any Head Start setting, all staff, regardless of their role, can create this sense of belonging. When families feel safe, respected, and heard, and as disabilities coordinators, we can facilitate and support this process for children with disabilities. Families can feel connected to programs, service providers, and other families so they can achieve those goals and feel as a valued team member. That's the goal. That's the goal of this.

Going into and thinking back into our family outcomes from our Head Start Parent Family Community Engagement framework, all staff including our teachers, our disabilities coordinators, our family services, staff, management, we all have that role to play. We've established that. But here are some examples of that.

Let's look at positive parent/child relationships. When we develop the supportive relationship with families, this in turn can help them provide sensitive caregiving for their children. This is often called that parallel process, where our interactions with families can influence how they interact with their children. It's creating those safe environments. Also thinking about families as lifelong educators, where we can provide safe spaces for families to voice their hopes, their dreams, and concerns as the advocate for their child's unique development and services. Or as families as lifelong learners, where we work with other programs, staff, and community resources to provide those opportunities where families can learn and develop their advocacy skills.

And the last piece of this is families to peers and community, where we can help families connect with peers and community resources, like our Part C and Part B partners, with other local resources, and we can meet families' needs and help them achieve their goals and support the well-being up children. And as families, they are supported and feel supported as part of that team with these outcomes, and they can better overcome any obstacles to reach those goals. This creates that sense of belonging, that positive network, and experience for them to feel cared for, and receiving help from others as a partnership.

I do see a comment from our friend Annette saying, always keep parents aware and involved. Yes, Annette, I 100% agree. With this, let's turn it over to our friend Roselia. And she's going to talk a little bit about this emotional piece.

Roselia: Yeah, we have spent some time talking about family engagement and then the important role that families play as team members in that coordinated approach to disability services. But we want to spend some time now like really exploring children's social emotional development, and then the social emotional needs of families during this pandemic that we're living in.

We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major effect on all of our lives. Many of us are facing challenges that can be stressful, overwhelming, and they're really causing some strong emotions, not just in us as adults, but the children are experiencing these strong emotions as well. We have all experienced many changes to what used to be our day-to-day activity and routine. Public health actions such as social distancing really became necessary in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Along with that really came some additional feelings of isolation and loneliness.

As the global pandemic continues, we've come to terms that our school years are really looking drastically different. There's growing discussion about the impact that this is all having on the social emotional needs of both children and families. We know that children and adults, we're really – we all are – we're just we're really social beings. And as a result of the pandemic, we have all experienced changes in our lives that can have a significant impact on our social emotional skills, including how we engage with others.

Even before COVID-19 hit, we knew that that positive social emotional development, it really lays the foundation for developing self-confidence, as well as the ability to develop meaningful and lasting relationships. For young children, identifying concerns during those formative early years, it increases the chance for children to reach their full potential, as research tells us that those early interventions can be most effective.

The pandemic has created an economic as well as a health crisis that has touched every child and adult in one way or another. While we don't know what the long-term effects may be, families are already noticing some of those short-term effects that the pandemic is having on their children.

For instance, the Children's Hospital Association is reporting that there is a significant increase in children with developmental delays that are visiting emergency departments. They're coming in with some severe aggression or suicidal ideation, or other concerns that are partly related to a halt in some of those needed services and/or related to that social isolation piece. Social emotional development, it's really more important than ever. And it is the key to happiness and well-being and supports future success and school success as well as work.

Let's explore a few ways in which the pandemic has changed the needs of families, and could potentially impact the way in which we – not we, but – well, ourselves as well, but how families are engaging as team members in that coordinated approach to disability services.

First is changes in routine. This is probably one of the biggest ways in which the pandemic has changed the needs of families. All children thrive when they have structure, including children with disabilities. Structure is created by those consistent routines and rules that are established and followed. Children can learn to expect what behaviors are OK and not OK. And those routines, they really help children to know what they can expect throughout their day.

Take a moment now and think about how structure and routines help you and what it is like when that changes for you. When your routine is disrupted, what does that do for you in terms of your day, your outlook, and how you go about your day. We asked for you to share some of your thoughts in the Q&A. And then you can also jot down some of those thoughts in your participants guide.

We do know that as adults, most of us have basic routines that we follow and rules that we live by on most days of the week. Of course, we know that we have to be flexible, but for the most part, we have our routines and the things that we do throughout the week. With consistency, predictability, and follow through, we can establish appropriate expectations and limits for our children. With consistency, predictability, and follow through, children learn how adults are going to respond to those behaviors that are OK and not OK. Having routines helps both parents and children. Children feel safe and secure because they know what to expect. And then parents feel competent because they know how to respond. And they respond the same way each time.

We know that families, they may be struggling right now with establishing routines that are consistent, predictable, and easy to follow through as a result of the pandemic. For example, some of our families with children with disabilities, some of those needed services – early intervention, special education therapy sessions – they have either been interrupted or they completely stopped. Although some of … We do know that some of those interventions were available through platforms like Zoom, they may not have been as effective as in-person interventions because of the nature of the child's disability. And these challenges may have left families trying to add their own home therapy sessions to already stressed daily routines or not doing home therapy with their child at all.

Let's explore this a little bit further. Breaks or changes in children's continuity of care or learning, as well as breaks or changes in health care have also happened because of the pandemic. So many of our Head Start, Early Head Start, migrant and seasonal, our AIAN programs, they had to close in order to prevent coronavirus from studying. And they were really focused on keeping children, families, and staff safe. Many families juggling caretaking, supervising play, as well as working, teleworking responsibilities. And we also know that many families suffered job loss during this time. We did know that that many programs, they offered some virtual learning opportunities, but for various reasons, families cannot take advantage on a consistent basis.

As mentioned earlier, we also know that early intervention and/or special education services closures, they impacted many children's ability to receive speech, the physical, occupational, as well as other services and therapies that were required by their IFSP as well as their IEPs. When it comes to healthcare, parents may have felt pressure to avoid seeking it for themselves and their children due to some of those earlier stay-at-home orders. And they may continue to – let's just use the word avoid in order to keep themselves as well as their children from getting sick with COVID-19. However, we do know that it's important to ensure that children do receive continuity of healthcare, including checking on their development at well child visits and then continuing other health services like mental health via some of those telehealth opportunities, if they are available, and then if they are workable option for children and families.

Social distancing, stay at home orders. They really limited gatherings. They have affected the ability of friends and family to come together in person to celebrate and/or grieve and in those traditional ways. Families of children with disabilities, we do know that they then report that they often do feel disconnected or isolated from others, because of the nature of their child's disability. The pandemic likely really deepens that sense of isolation, because as noted earlier, they were cut off from their social networks, and potentially missing some of those significant life events. Having to physically distance from friends and family, it can make you feel as if your family's life is on hold. But we do know that life continues to happen. Birthdays, vacation plans, birth, and as well as funerals are just a few of the many significant life events that families have missed experiencing in some of those traditional ways during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many children, they did not get to have that experience of that first day of preschool or the first day of kindergarten in that traditional sense, as we know that many experienced this virtually.

When parents or caregivers, when they're experiencing stress, worry, grief, loneliness, and some other emotions, children may also experience those same emotional challenges. Families may need support in knowing how to respond to children's emotional reactions that are associated with what they are experiencing. In your role as disability services coordinators, how have you supported families in responding to their children's emotional needs. Enter some of those thoughts into the Q&A. Or again, jot those down in your participants guide. Think about how over the course of this pandemic that we've been going through and the changes. And what are some ways in which you have supported families in responding to their children's emotional needs? We know that that being safe and feeling safe is essential for young children, including children with disabilities.

One of the last areas that we want to briefly talk about is the loss of security and safety. For many families with young children, the pandemic impacted the household income due to job loss and lost wages. Many families experienced or are experiencing food insecurity as well as homelessness. We know that economic insecurity is linked to those adverse childhood experiences that can then negatively impact their social emotional development, their learning as well as their health. Young children living in families that are experiencing some of these economic difficulties, they may feel unsafe, and then the adults themselves may feel unsafe and insecure. It may be important for you to consider how this impacts their ability to be active team members in the coordinated approach to disability services.

OK, this is a great place to pause and share with you this video. Many of you may be familiar with the still face experiment. We know about the importance of relationships and interactions. In this experiment, feedback and attention, they're suddenly removed. As you watch the clip, we want you to notice what the child is doing throughout the experience, and then pay attention to how it makes you feel as well. Let's take a look.

[Video begins]

Edward Tronick: Babies this young are extremely responsive to the emotions and the reactivity and the social interaction that they get from the world around them. This is something that we started studying 34 years ago, when people didn't think that infants could engage in social interaction.

In this still face experiment, what the mother did was she sits down, and she's playing with her baby who's about a year of age. And she gives a greeting to the baby; the baby gives a greeting back to her. This baby starts pointing at different places in the world, and the mother is trying to engage her and play with her. They're working to coordinate their emotions and their intentions, what they want to do in the world. And that's really what the baby is used to.

And then we ask the mother to not respond to the baby. The baby very quickly picks up on this. And then she uses all of her abilities to try and get the mother back. She smiles at the mother. She points because she's used to the mother looking where she points. The baby puts both hands up in front of her and says, “What's happening here?” She makes that screechy sound at the mother, like, “Come on, why aren't we doing this?” Even in this two minutes, when they don't get the normal reaction, they react with negative emotions, they turn away, they feel the stress of it. They actually may lose control of their posture because of the stress that they're experiencing.

Mother: OK, baby. I'm here. And what are you doing? Oh yes, what a big girl.

Edward: It's a little like, the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good is that normal stuff that goes on that we all do with our kids. The bad is when something bad happens, but the infant can overcome it. After all, when you stop the still face, the mother and the baby start to play again. The ugly is when you don't give the child any chance to get back to the good. There's no reparation, and they're stuck in that really ugly situation.

[Video ends]

Roselia: All right, what do you think? That's just – it's gut wrenching, I just want like reach in and like pick up the baby when I see this. One of the responses that came in and made the connection to how families might be feeling about the impact of the pandemic, and the impact it has on their life. They're not able to be present with their children. Parents and other adult family members may be feeling more stressed. And some might start to disengage from their children. They might also feel disconnected from the program and appear uninterested in being active team members. Those are some of the thoughts that came through about the video.

Now that we have watched the video, and we've reflected a little, I want to invite you to reflect a little more with me. We know that families are critical team members in the coordinated approach to disability services. And we also know that families have been impacted in many ways and at different levels from the pandemic.

Most of us at some point in our life, we've experienced a flat tire. If you haven't, consider yourself very, very fortunate. I want to invite you to really think about this experience with that flat tire. How did you feel? What would you have done if you were not able to fix this flat tire. As you're doing that, we're going to move along.

Here on the screen, you're going to see some outcomes from having a flat tire. One of them is that it makes it difficult to steer straight. It really throws off your direction. It makes the ride bumpy and shaky. And then steering in that general direction that you're trying to go; it can be difficult. It can cause an accident, and it can ultimately cause you to not reach the destination where you're trying to go.

Let's think about this and connect that to what we've been talking about. Our ultimate outcome is engaging families as active participants in that coordinated approach to disability services. We have also talked about some of the impacts that the pandemic has had. And we know that there are many other examples and ways in which families and children have been impacted.

We can almost see these experiences as the family having experienced a flat tire during the pandemic. We know that a flat tire is temporary, and we can get it fixed. We wanted to make that connection to get you thinking about how families have been impacted in terms of their social emotional development and just experiences as a result of the pandemic. They could be making it difficult or a struggle to reach that desired destination. It's important that we acknowledge and support the family through this process so that they can become those fully engaged team members that they want to be for their children.

We've covered a lot of information in a short amount of time, and we want to move into exploring some practices and strategies and resources. But before we do that, we want to leave you with this message to consider as you think about your role and how to support your program and staff. Positive, nurturing, responsive and effective relationships are the key to that healthy development and learning for all children and families. Yvette, I'm going to turn it back over to you now.

Yvette. Sure, it's OK. There we go. We both posted at the same time, it's OK. In the portion of the little time that we have left today with you all, we wanted to highlight some resources with practices and strategies to support your work and engagement with families as team members in that coordinated approach to disability services. And just as a reminder, all of these resources we're about to cover are on ECLKC for your review and for your practice. So far, we've talked about that what being the family engagement within our coordinated approaches as valued team members. We've also talked about that why, and supporting partnerships to promote social emotional supports and well-being to children and families.

Now, we're going to talk about that how, of being those practices, strategies, and resources to support what we've learned. And when we engage and make a difference in the lives of children and families, we see the multiple benefits that have been uncovered along the way in today's discussion. No matter how you connect with families, it is important to continue engaging because it does make a difference. Roselia, can you talk a little bit about the framework for effective practice?

Roselia: Yeah, this is an image that many of you may be familiar with. It's a framework for effective practices, and it uses the house to represent those five integral elements of quality teaching and learning for children birth to 5, and in all program options. We have provided this resource on the resource list in your participants guide.

If you're interested in learning more, we're only going to provide just a really quick overview of the components so that you have a sense of how the components fit together. The foundation of the house is necessary for children to learn, grow, and thrive. And the same is true for adults who care for children, including families. Interactions that are nurturing, responsive, and intentional, they're really going to support the parents' role as their child's first and most important teacher.

The first pillar on your left is implementing research-based curriculum and teaching practices. These practices, they must be linguistically and culturally responsive to children and families. The second pillar on your right references screening and ongoing assessment. We know that developmental screening is an initial check that's intended to identify children who may need further evaluation. Ongoing assessment helps track children's development and learning over time and can also identify those possible developmental delays.

Parents and families are critical partners to help identify their children's strengths, as well as their needs. And then that progress has been made over the course of development. And then the roof of the house corresponds to those highly individualized teaching and learning. And this is important for our children with disabilities, as it supports that access and full participation. And then at the center of the house, we have the parent and family engagement. Quality teaching practices fully recognize that it is the parents and the families who are the experts and that know what is best for their child. And it is critical that they are engaged in every component of this framework to achieve that best possible outcome.

This framework can really support your work with program staff in keeping the parent, the family, and the child at the center of our work. On the framework for effective practice page on the ECLKC, each of the elements has an explanation of what it is and why it's important. And then each element is hyperlinked to webpages and resources. For example, the link for the roof, which is that highly individualized teaching and learning, it takes you to the main page of children with disabilities. That's just one way that you can utilize this framework in your role to have easy access to some of those resources. Yvette, I'm going to turn it back over to you.

Yvette: Sure. We wanted to highlight a little bit of these strength-based attitudes since we talked about this at the beginning of our session. Just know that these are available on ECLKC to help and support your practices and your engagements with families. But I wanted to highlight quickly one more resource for you all to look at. And this is the Building Partnership Series, which can support strategies with attitudes and practices, conversations about sensitive topics, and preparing for challenges in conversations with families.

But with that, we wanted to give you all these pieces to support your work and know that it can continue this discussion and ask us any questions through our engagement hub as well as through my peers. Know that you can keep engaging with us. But with that we want to thank you so much for being with us today, and we hope that you're safe and well. Thank you so much.

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