School-age children develop and learn within all types of families and family members are the most important people in children’s lives. When staff members understand families as a system and the impact of parenting in childhood and adolescence, they are better able to develop partnerships with families and to help create an environment that meets the needs of each school-age child. This lesson shares perspectives for understanding families and provides an introduction to family-centered practice.

Strong family engagement is an integral part of high-quality school-age programs. Promoting family engagement in a school-age program is a vital aspect of the learning environment. In this lesson, you will learn the importance of family engagement, and methods of creating and maintaining family partnerships in school-age programs. 

Effective communication between school-aged program staff and the families in your program is a way to promote family engagement and create strong partnerships. In this lesson, you will learn methods of effectively communicating with families and ways to promote family engagement. 

This lesson will highlight the ways in which you can play a significant role in supporting families of children with special needs in school-age programs. You will learn recommendations for effective collaboration with families and other professionals and begin to understand the additional roles and responsibilities placed on many families of children with special needs.

Providing support is one of the most important things we can do for families. This lesson will provide an introduction to the Strengthening Families Protective Factors Framework. You will learn about each factor, how you can provide support and what some unique challenges are when working with school-age children and their families. This lesson will also help you understand common situations military families face, such as frequent moves and deployment.