I'm often asked how to improve parent engagement.
I love this question.
While I can and do share handouts, chat transcripts, and resources, and my own personal experiences, when relevant, I also recommend reading writing by parents speaking directly about parent experiences in specific systems.
Rise Magazine is an example. This is their mission:
Rise’s mission is to train parents to write and speak about their experiences in order to support parents and parent advocates and and to guide child welfare professionals in becoming more responsive to the families and communities they serve. Our goal is to reduce unnecessary family separations and increase the likelihood that children who are placed in foster care quickly and safely return home.
Through therapeutic writing workshops for parents, a publication reaching 20,000 readers nationwide, public speaking and staff training reaching thousands of child welfare professionals in New York City, and partnerships with foster care agencies to strengthen their supports for parents, Rise changes the story of who these parents are–and who they can become.
Here are three stories published in Rise Magazine over the last few months.
- Diplomacy and Determination – When I had a conflict with my son’s school, I was able to get what my family needed by being both respectful and strong.
- What Parents Need to Know: School Reports to CPS, Communicating with the School, and Advocating for Your Child
- How to Get School-Based Supports for Your Child
- New Research: How Fear of CPS Harms Families
These articles are useful for those involved with school systems and/or Child Protective Services.
These parent perspectives are critical. Parents, advocates, and parent-advocates are important resources. There are many who work or volunteer are vocal as volunteers or advocates who are working (or volunteering) to address and change the ways in which parents can be hurt, alienate, or fail to support families.
Find these parent advocates. Hire them. Collaborate with them. Share resources about them. It's on all of us to learn and collaborate with, value, and prioritize parent involvement.
To address parent engagement we must engage with parents from the start.
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