ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a discussion of another core principle, the importance of Providing Opportunities for Agency and Control for parents and families. This is often described as “voice and choice.” The authors emphasize how trauma-responsive environments support parents and families to have opportunities to provide input to inform the decisions that impact them (e.g., policies, processes and procedures), to make choices and participate in creating mutually agreed upon goals, and to feel a sense of control in communication, interactions and within early learning environments. The authors then introduce Ketterer’s (Ketterer, B. 2019. Reducing anger and violence in schools: An evidence based approach. New York, NY: Routledge ) concept of positioning parents and families as “Invited Guests” as an important strategy early childhood professionals can use to build trust with parent and families. Next, the core principle, Implementing Culturally, Linguistically and Contextually responsive practices, is introduced along with an overview of the impact of culture and language on peoples’ experiences of stress, trauma, mental health and healing. The authors reinforce how culturally and linguistically responsive family engagement practices communicate to young children, parents and family members that their family identities are seen and valued and that families in early childhood programs have a diverse range of backgrounds, structures, cultural beliefs and practices and speak a wide range of languages. The chapter includes several examples of programs and community partners who honor the strengths and cultural and linguistic assets of the families they serve and they create partnerships with the families in ways that give them real decision-making power to influence the program’s goals and processes and ensure they reflect their values, beliefs, practices and languages.
