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4 - Parent Participation and Perspectives
This chapter summarizes findings from focus groups and interviews with parents and family resource coordinators. Interviews and focus groups took place during the site visits to 30 programs that serve culturally and linguistically diverse children and families.
Through the survey, Head Start centers reported attempts to involve parents in all aspects of the program, including center-based programming, workshops, program planning, and center operations. When parents participate in classes on child development or when staff visit a family's home, parents get a chance to learn about their child's progress and specific needs.
Barriers to Parent Participation. During site visits, disparity in reporting by staff about parent involvement was noted. Although most directors stated that parent involvement was very high, other staff members reported low parental involvement. Staff explained that logistical problems, such as lack of transportation and childcare, preclude parent involvement, and sometimes parents do not participate because program staff do not speak their language. Although many programs provide translators at meetings, the translators were not consistently available at every site or at every meeting. Parents explain that when translators are not available at meetings, they feel helpless.
Strategies to Increase Parent Participation. Many parents come to centers regularly and develop rapport, not only with the staff and children, but with other parents as well. To increase parent participation, some sites have adopted the "buddy system," where a Head Start parent invites another parent to a meeting, class, or other event. Other sites give a banquet for parents as a token of gratitude. "Parent Breakfasts" give families access to information about services, opportunities for participation, and a chance to meet other parents. Strategies to increase parent involvement at many sites included circulation of newsletters and flyers, both translated into several languages. These newsletters and flyers are also used by programs to announce activities. Some programs find it more efficient to tape a verbal translation of the newsletters. They send home a small tape recorder with the taped transcription.
Attending parent committee and policy council meetings gives parents a chance to voice their opinions and concerns, and to make an impact on program planning decisions. Some sites provide incentives to attend the meetings, such as childcare or transportation.
Parent Activities
Life Skills Training
Parent involvement staff encourage and support parents in their search for employment through life skills classes that focus on self-esteem building, goal setting, career options, self-marketing, job skills training, and time and money management.
English as a Second Language
Some parent involvement coordinators believe that parents' lack of proficiency in English leads to limited employment and educational opportunities and decreased confidence. In order to support parents' English proficiency, many programs offer English as a Second Language (ESL) and literacy training for parents. However, while many ESL and other classes start out with strong attendance, attrition is common. A few sites offer classes at night, which seems to suit many working parents.
College Opportunities
In addition to ESL and literacy classes, many sites also offer GED (General Equivalency Diploma) classes and testing, Child Development Associate (CDA) programs, and college opportunities for parents. One site offers free college classes to parents, including books and tuition, along with free child care and a stipend. Some parents have received their CDA certificates through this program and many are subsequently hired by a Head Start program.
Culture Specific Training
Social services staff offer training to parents on a variety of topics, including literacy, home repair, and financial management. Coordinators report that "culture-specific" training attracts more parents, particularly from the specific ethnic group targeted, than do general topic training sessions. A popular workshop offered by one program that is targeted specifically to immigrant parents is called "Disciplinary Methods to Raise Children." The trainers are sensitive to the disciplinary methods used in parents' home countries, but expose them to new methods based on knowledge of child development and well-being. Other workshop topics include CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), child development, and nutrition.
Job Training and Employment
Some programs are also instrumental in providing job training and helping parents locate employment. They facilitate the job search process through local employment agencies and offer training in specific job skills. Other programs hire parents, particularly bilingual parents. Some sites report that as many as 60% of their current staff is comprised of Head Start parents. Parents typically occupy clerical, technical, or teaching positions.
Multicultural Activities for Parents
Cultural Communities
A Cultural Committee was organized by parents at one site to coordinate storytelling and the display of cultural artifacts. Another program offers culture-specific workshops on child rearing, gang violence, arts and crafts, and multicultural issues. At several sites, parents take full responsibility for organizing and presenting the multicultural presentations and other events during the year.
Field Trips
Another technique in use by social services staff is to expose parents to different cultures by taking them on class field trips. For example, one program took children and parents to Chinese shops, museums of Mexican history, and ethnic dance performances to help them appreciate other cultures. Head Start parents are also given opportunities to socialize with other parents during multicultural potluck dinners, banquets, cultural activity meetings, and bake sales. During interviews, staff stated that food-related activities are very successful and attract a strong parental attendance. Parents seem to enjoy these events because of the diverse foods and the opportunity for social interaction.
Other Services
Basic Necessities
Social services staff support parents in the acquisition of such basic needs as housing, food, and clothing. Many recent immigrants do not know how to locate these resources in their new communities. Social service providers utilize their existing linkages in the community to help parents find sources of free or inexpensive clothing and food giveaways.
Social Services
Head Start programs offer services to help parents reduce stress and to provide additional support to cope with daily life. Some of these services target issues appropriate to specific groups; for example, a counseling program provided by an Asian-American organization deals with adjustment following immigration. The Texas Migrant Council provides "post-immigration counseling" to Spanish-speaking seasonal agricultural workers in the Southwest. Other sites offer counseling related to domestic violence, substance abuse, and child maltreatment.
Social service staff have unique opportunities to recruit new families since they interface daily with the community. For example, when conducting home visits, they can also distribute flyers, which are often translated into several languages, directly to other eligible families.
In many programs, social services staff respond to the needs of specific ethnic groups, sometimes providing translation services and accompanying families on visits to social service agencies or healthcare appointments.
Nutrition Services
Some programs have developed multicultural cookbooks that include recipes from several cultures. One program has printed a cookbook that includes recipes ranging from Burmese chutney rice to Norwegian polar fish and Guatemalan baked bananas. In addition to the cookbook, the program offers a series of parent workshops on foods from around the world. As part of this workshop, trainers emphasize cooking foods that are low in sodium and fats.
Health Services
Head Start emphasizes the importance of early identification of health problems. Every enrolled child becomes part of a comprehensive health program that includes immunizations, medical, dental, mental health, and nutritional services. Services are provided by Head Start programs either directly or via community referrals.
Some Head Start sites report difficulties in coordinating with low-cost health services and identifying providers who speak the families' home languages. Some administrators complain that it is difficult to contract with translators to help families during healthcare visits because of cost and related paperwork. Health coordinators complain about a lack of health education and information materials available in families' home languages. In some cases, Head Start program staff accompany families to health clinics to assist with translation.
Health coordinators face the challenge of encouraging parents to have their children immunized and to attend well-child visits. Head Start staff report that some parents do not adhere to the mainstream belief in the importance of preventive pediatric healthcare.
There are few health education materials available in languages understood by non-English-speaking Head Start families.
Recruitment and Enrollment
Exposure to the community and to parents gives social services staff a chance to recruit parents directly. Staff may distribute flyers at community organizations or answer questions about eligibility.
Programs with bilingual and multilingual social services staff help parents fill out enrollment forms and, when possible, they distribute Spanish and Vietnamese versions of enrollment forms. Some programs that do not have bilingual staff or translated forms contract with translators. In some cases, when translators for specific languages are difficult to find (e.g., Hmong or Creole), parents bring their own translator, typically another family member or friend. Sometimes an older sibling acts as a translator. Sites without bilingual staff are limited in their ability to enroll families.
Programs reported that they were modifying their outreach strategies in the following ways:
- Advertising (local and/or mass media) in the language of the community;
- Open houses;
- Going door-to-door to recruit families; and
- Contacting agencies, churches, and other groups/functions serving minority communities.
Home Visits
While the focus of this study was center-based services, research staff also observed numerous home visits. Observations of home visits indicated that home visitors differed in their approaches to working with parents and children in their homes. Many teachers visiting homes and home visitors were cognizant of the individual family's cultural values and customs and used this information to inform their practice.
The teacher was greeted warmly by the family. Recognizing that this family preferred that visitors remove their shoes upon entering, she removed her shoes immediately. When the teacher sat down, the father offered her a snack. It was a nut and grain mix in a colorful woven basket. The father explained that it was from Eritrea and that it was customary to eat it with your hands. The teacher ate some and asked how they made it. The mother seemed pleased to tell her. Throughout the home visit she was careful to ask the mother and father about their child and family as she discussed their son's progress. When she was done, the father asked if she could stay for some tea and bread. Even though this was at the end of a long day for the home visitor, she obliged. While sipping tea, she asked the parents what they missed most about Eritrea, and the father smiled as he began to relay in detail the treasures of his birthplace. All the while the teacher listened intently. The teacher explained later in an interview that most of her home visits go longer than scheduled.
Other visitors did not individualize their practice to individual families and in some instances ignored the family's cultural values and customs. Home visitors and other professionals who interact with families cannot help but bring their own cultural values and assumptions into interactions with families. To minimize the potentially intrusive effects of their cultural practices, they must learn to set aside personally focused beliefs and values. Continued professional development in cultural and linguistic diversity, which leads to understanding family uniqueness, is a critical component in helping all personnel involved in service delivery in Head Start.
Key Findings
Parent Participation and Perspectives
- Many parents feel included in and welcomed by programs; however, such
barriers as transportation, childcare and staff not speaking their language
often keep them from participating in meetings and other events.
- Translators are not consistently available at every site or at every meeting, and parents feel helpless when they are unable to communicate in these settings.
- Many recent immigrants do not know how to locate basic resources in their new communities.
- Social services staff respond to the needs of specific ethnic groups, sometimes providing translation services and accompanying families on visits to social service agencies or healthcare appointments.
- Many programs report difficulty in coordinating with low-cost healthcare providers who speak Head Start families' home languages and understand relevant issues related to serving these multicultural families.
- Some, but not all, home visitors tailor their interactions in the home to the family's cultural background and beliefs
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