moving beyond family support: empowering families ntac topical conference tampa, florida april 28,...
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Moving Beyond Family Support:Empowering Families
NTAC Topical ConferenceTampa, FloridaApril 28, 2004
This project is supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the U.S. Department of Education.
The National Technical Assistance Consortium for Children and Young Adults Who Are Deaf-Blind
OVERVIEW Explain difference between support and
empowerment Explain the various roles of Family Support
Personnel Increase understanding of an empowerment
approach to family support Share strategies and examples for enabling
and empowering families Discussion and activity to illustrate and
check for understanding
DEFINITIONS Support – to bear the weight of , especially from
below; to hold in position; prevent from falling, sinking or slipping; to keep (one’s spirits, for example) from falling during stress; lend strength to; to provide for or maintain by supplying with money or other necessities
Empower – to invest with legal power, authorize; to enable or permit
Enable – to supply with the means, knowledge, or opportunity to be or do something; to make feasible or possible; to give legal power, capacity or sanction; to permit
WHAT DOES EMPOWERMENT MEAN?
“ . . . empowerment has no agreed-upon definition . . . Rather, the term has been used, often loosely, to capture a family of somewhat related meanings” (Thomas and Velthouse, 1990)
“Empowerment is a little bit like obscenity; you have trouble defining it, but you know it when you see it” (Rappaport, 1985)
WHAT DOES EMPOWERMENT MEAN?
Definitions emphasize: Mastery and control as outcomes Processes and experiences that create or produce
empowerment Intra-personal and inter-personal behaviors that
moderate and mediate mastery and control An interactional relationship between the processes
and the outcomes of empowering experiences That empowerment efforts are guided by a certain set
of ideological beliefs
WHY EMPOWERMENT? Parents are the experts on their children and
need to know/believe this and acquire skills to let others know
Support only takes you so far Don’t want to build dependency on
professionals Affirming experience for families It’s what families need to be able to make it
through the times/challenges ahead
EMPOWERMENT PHILOSOPHYThe Guiding Principles of an empowering philosophy are:
1. All people have existing strengths and capabilities as well as the capacity to become more competent. 2. The failure of a person to display competence is not due to deficits within a person, but rather to the failure of social systems to provide or create opportunities for competencies to be displayed or acquired.
3. In situations where existing capabilities need to be strengthened or new competencies need to be learned, they are best learned through experiences that lead people to make self-attributions about their capabilities to influence important life events.
Now that we’ve talked about what empowerment is….
How do we achieve it?
FAMILY SUPPORT PERSONNEL ROLES
Teacher/TherapistFind ways to incorporate instruction/therapy
into normal activities and daily routines Identify child and parents’ strengths and use
them to address identified needs
Empathetic ListenerUtilize both active and reflective listening skillsPromote family/support personnel partnerships
FAMILY SUPPORT PERSONNEL ROLES
Consultant Provide information and opinions in response
to the family’s request(s) Provide knowledge and experiences so that family’s
network of support can be better informed and able to support the family
Resource Act as a “natural clearinghouse” of information
regarding community resources Assure that family support personnel are
knowledgeable about local/state/national resources and know how to assist families in accessing appropriate resources
FAMILY SUPPORT PERSONNEL ROLESEnabler
Create opportunities for the family to become skilled at obtaining resources and support
Family support personnel need to act in the role of “empowerer” not “rescuer”
Mobilizer Help families connect with others (families and/or
individuals) that can provide new or alternative supports and resources
Using a “MAPPING” strategy can help bring key players together
FAMILY SUPPORT PERSONNEL ROLES
Mediator Promote cooperation and instill an atmosphere of
collaboration Time-limited, with the purpose of setting up positive,
task-oriented and mutually reinforcing interactions between families and large systems if negative experiences have occurred
Advocate Provide families with knowledge and skills necessary
to protect parent and child rights, negotiate effectively with policymakers, and create opportunities to influence the establishment of policies on behalf of children and families
Important to act in a proactive way
EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR EMPOWERING FAMILIES
1. Promote positive and proactive interactions with families
2. Offer help in response to family-identified needs3. Offer help that is normative4. Offer suggestions that provide the family with
immediate success in mobilizing resources5. Promote the use of the family’s natural support
networks as principal ways of meeting needs
Adapted from: “Guidelines for Family Empowerment” in Enabling and Empowering Families: Principles & Guidelines for Practice (1988) Dunst, Carl; Trivette, Carol and Deal, Angela; Brookline Books, Cambridge, MA; p 94-97.
EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR EMPOWERING FAMILIES
6. Promote a sense of cooperation and joint responsibility for meeting family needs
7. Permit the family to decide to accept or reject help8. Permit help to be reciprocated and offer
opportunities to do so9. Promote independence and the acquisition of
skills and behaviors necessary to meet family needs
10. Promote the family members’ ability to see themselves as an active agent responsible for behavior change
Adapted from: “Guidelines for Family Empowerment” in Enabling and Empowering Families: Principles & Guidelines for Practice (1988) Dunst, Carl; Trivette, Carol and Deal, Angela; Brookline Books, Cambridge, MA; p 94-97.
PROMOTE POSITVE AND PROACTIVE INTERACTIONS WITH FAMILIES
Taking a proactive stance holds the assertion that people are already competent or have the capacity to become competent
Develops a trusting relationship with families Process of empowerment can begin right away
in our work with families Initiates an attitude that will go far
OFFER HELP IN RESPONSE TOFAMILY- IDENTIFIED NEEDS
Often a difficult one for us IFSP is a “family-driven” document Families of infants and toddlers may be at
a different place than services providers
OFFER HELP THAT IS NORMATIVE
Stays in line with the family’s appraisal of the situation
Benefits exceed the efforts/cost to solve the problem/need
Culturally sensitive Builds on inherent strengths
OFFER SUGGESTIONS THAT PROVIDE THE FAMILY WITH IMMEDIATE
SUCCESS IN MOBILIZING RESOURCES
Assists in fostering positive partnerships Begin with an immediate need Demonstrate success Take small steps Build on positive experiences
PROMOTE THE USE OF THE FAMILY’S NATURAL SUPPORT NETWORKS AS
PRINCIPAL WAYS OF MEETING NEEDS
Uses what the family is comfortable with Family assessment is part of IFSP May need to train staff in family
assessment and/or family systems theory
PROMOTE A SENSE OF COOPERATION AND JOINT RESPONSIBILITY FOR
MEETING FAMILY NEEDS Multi-disciplinary approach is a major
component of early intervention services Parents are seen as equal partners and
recognized as knowing their child best Training for family empowerment can and should
begin early Emphasis of team concept provides a model for
family members to utilize throughout educational and life planning
Helps assure that service providers are viewed as partners, rather than someone sent to “do” and “fix” everything
PERMIT THE FAMILY TO DECIDE TO ACCEPT OR REJECT HELP
Instills family-driven concept Gives family feeling that they do have
some control in their life Ultimately families do know what is best
for their child/family
PERMIT HELP TO BE RECIPROCATED AND OFFER OPPORTUNITIES TO DO SO
Allows families to show their gratitude Provides chance to do something positive
for others Reinforces capabilities as parents of a
child with special needs Beneficial to DB project and other families
PROMOTE INDEPENDENCE AND THE ACQUISITION OF SKILLS AND BEHAVIORS
NECESSARY TO MEET FAMILY NEEDS
Enabling experiences are opportunities (naturally occurring or created) that allow for competence to be displayed or learned
A slow, but necessary process Will only lead to strong, more cable
families – empowered
PROMOTE THE FAMILY MEMBERS’ ABILITY TO SEE THEMSELVES AS AN ACTIVE AGENTS
RESPONSIBLE F0R BEHAVIOR CHANGE
Reinforces partnership/team concept Provide opportunities for training for empowerment
(e.g. advance preparation, de-briefing, thanking parents) Supports and encourages empowerment as locus of
control shifts from service provider to family member Reinforces family attitudes of adequacy and confidence
in their own abilities to effect positive change for their child
A person is empowered when he or she has attributed changes in behavior to his or her own actions, in order to acquire the sense of control necessary to manage family affairs
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Enabling and Empowering Families: Principals and Guidelines for Practice (1988) by Carl Dunst, PhD., Carol Trivette, MA, and Angela Deal, MSW
Supporting and Strengthening Families: Methods, Strategies and Practices (1994) by Carl J. Dunst, Carol M. Trivette, and Angela G. Deal
ADDITIONAL RESOURCESLinking Family Support and Early Childhood Programs/Issues, Experiences, Opportunities by Mary Larner, PhD.
Families, Professionals, and Exceptionality: Collaborating for Empowerment by Ann Turnbull and H. Rutherford Turnbull
California Association of Family Empowerment Centers – www.cafec.org
Family Empowerment – www.familyempowerment.org
The Florida Partnership for Parent Involvement – http://cfs.fmhi.usf.edu/dares/fcpi/statement.html
Parents Helping Parents – www.php.com
National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice – www.uiowa.edu/~nrcfcp/index.html
SUMMING IT ALL UP! IFSP requirements guarantee that we look at
things from a family perspective first – this is a shift from what some service providers may have been taught (or what some may believe)
Building dependent relationships is harmful to families in the long run, regardless of our good intentions
TA providers aren’t usually the ones who have ongoing contact with families and/or know them best – we need to establish positive collaborative relationships with the entities that do
REMEMBER!
It is not simply a matter of whether family needs are met, but the manner in which needs
are met that results in family empowerment.
THE END!
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