ABSTRACT
As families walked into this Head Start program, they encountered inadequate facilities and resources, poorly trained staff, and the undertow of staff politics. And, as this chapter will illustrate, they also came face to face with the negative perceptions and prejudices of staff members who often saw them as deficit-ridden, suspect, and having little to offer the program. In reality, the Head Start parents in Morrison County constituted a group of richly varied individuals of differing races and ethnic groups, social classes, genders, education levels, experiences, and resources. While each individual typically had challenges to overcome, they also had attributes and assets — strengths that not only were often ignored, but were sometimes openly denigrated.
