Transforming Early Head Start Home Visiting

Research on home visiting shows that Early Head Start (EHS) home-based programs benefit from additional training and resources that streamline philosophy and content. In this essential guide, Walsh and Mortensen propose that alignment with Family Life Education’s (FLE) strengths-based methodology results in greater consistency through a model of prevention, education, and collaboration with families. This text is the first to outline linkages between FLE and EHS home visiting. It explores a qualitative study of FLE integrated in a current EHS home-based program and application of FLE methodology to home visiting topics. This approach will influence professional practice and provide a foundation for developing evidence-based home visiting practices. Online content accompanies the text, with videos demonstrating the FLE approach in action and discussion questions to encourage engagement with and understanding of the core material. Transforming Early Head Start Home Visiting: A Family Life Education Approach is essential reading for upper-level undergraduate and masters students in family studies and early childhood education, as well as practitioners working with children and families.

This book describes the experience of families who are participants in an Early Head Start program for families with infants and toddlers who live in poverty. The author examines the lives of the families as they go about their daily routines, attend the Head Start center, and receive home visits. Hallock seeks to understand the complex relationships between families and the Early Head Start home visitors who are there to support them and help improve their lives. This book provides insight on how institutions such as Head Start can influence relationship-based work, providing hope for families and home visitors as they work towards explicit shared goals.

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

Now in its second edition, Introduction to Human Development and Family Science was the first text to introduce human development and family studies (HDFS) as inextricably linked areas of study. Pioneers of research paradigms have acknowledged that the family is one setting in which human development occurs, and much work is inherently multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. This book helps to fortify an understanding of HDFS and subareas within it. Key features include: Chapters aligned with Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) Guidelines. An applied focus, with vignettes exploring diverse family structures and human experience, a brand-new appendix with helpful tips to encourage the effective utilization of research. Discussion of the wide variety of career paths for HDFS students. Rich pedagogical features, including Challenge: Integration sections, bringing together content from all chapters; Journal Questions, encouraging reflection on content as well as personal experience; and Suggested Resources, listing relevant websites, books, articles, and video links for further study. Incredibly user-friendly, this is essential reading for students new to Human Development and Family Science. A fully developed Instructor and Student Website includes flashcards, self-testing quizzes, and discussion questions for students, as well as activities, lecture slides, test banks, and video recommendations for instructors.