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## Other Youth Topics

## Breadcrumb

            -  Youth Topics 
            -           Family Engagement      

# Family Engagement

## Meaningful Family Engagement

Family engagement is essential in promoting healthy physical, cognitive and social-emotional development, and academic achievement of children and youth from pre-K to high school. Research shows that when families are meaningfully and continuously engaged in their children’s learning and development, they can positively impact their child’s health, development, academic, and well-being outcomes into adulthood.1,2

## Description of Family Engagement

Strong family engagement happens when families have a primary and meaningful role in all decision-making that impacts every young person and their families. Meaningful family engagement is about improving outcomes for all youth and families and happens at the system level and at the service level.

At the system level, family engagement is evident when families routinely engage as equal partners with state and local leaders in planning, designing, and evaluating services, programs and policies that impact the lives of children, youth and families served.

Family engagement also happens at the individual service level where agency partners and a single family collaborate in making decisions that address their child’s unique strengths and needs and considers the family’s ideas of success. Meaningful family engagement requires that state and local leaders model and champion family partnership anchored by mutual respect, shared authority, two-way communication, and a commitment to a common vision and shared goals to improve outcomes for every young person and their family.3,4

## Definition of “Family” in Family Engagement

Child and youth serving systems broadly define “family” in family engagement as including parents and other adult caregivers, acknowledging today’s varied family units and their needs for extended supports. For example, early childhood education and juvenile justice programming describe family engagement as including biological, adoptive, and foster parents; grandparents; legal and informal guardians; and adult siblings.5,6

Some agencies have broadened this definition of family to include related and non-related members. As an example, transition-aged and foster youth work with their providers to identify and name their personal family system that includes peers, mentors, and service providers who they trust and can count on for support. Key service sectors that are implementing family engagement plans and strategies to increase and improve the engagement of families in their systems and services include education, child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health, and primary health care providers.

## References

1 Weiss, Lopez, & Caspe, 20162 Henderson & Mapp, 20023 U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Education, 20164 Child Welfare Information Gateway, 20165 U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Education, 20166 Development Services Group, Inc., 2018

## Other Resources on this Topic

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                          - Brief: Discriminatory Transgender Health Bills Have Critical Consequences for Youth
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                          - Bullying Prevention Awareness Month
                          - Children’s Bureau Express Survey
                          - Department of Justice Awards Nearly $105 Million to Protect Children from Exploitation, Trauma, and Abuse
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                          - Healthy and Safe Swimming Week is May 23-29, 2022
                          - HHS Awards $256.6 Million for Equitable and Affordable Title X Family Planning Services Nationwide
                          - June is Internet Safety Month
                          - Justice Department Announces $21.72 Million to Reduce Sexual and Domestic Violence on Campus, Support Children and Youth, and Engage Men and Boys as Allies
                          - National Adoption Month 2022
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                          - National Crime Victims’ Rights (NCVRW) Week
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                          - Novavax Approved by CDC as an Additional COVID-19 Vaccine for Adolescents
                          - Observance: 2023 National Adoption Month
                          - Observance: 2023 National Veterans and Military Families Month
                          - OJJDP Seeking Nominations for National Missing Children’s Day Awards
                          - Permanency for Youth on Their Own Terms
                          - Redesigned National Adoption Month Website
                          - Report: A Guide to Effective Collaborations with Community-Based Organizations to Support Students Experiencing Homelessness
                          - Report: Building Co-Regulation Capacity to Support Positive Development for Youth with Foster Care Experience
                          - Report: Lessons from a Historic Decline in Child Poverty
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                          - Report: The Condition of Education 2023
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                          - Reproductive Rights Task Force
                          - Resource: 2022 Adoption Month Outreach Toolkit
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                          - Resource: Addressing the Long-Term Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children and Families
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                          - Resource: Advances in Supporting Kinship Caregivers Podcast Series
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                          - Resource: Co-Regulation in Practice Series -- Strategies for Practitioners Who Serve Youth Aged 14-24
                          - Resource: Co-regulation: What It Is and Why it Matters Video
                          - Resource: Common Problems, Common Solutions: Looking Across Sectors at Strategies for Supporting Rural Youth and Families Tool-Kit
                          - Resource: Communities Talk to Prevent Underage Drinking: Success Stories
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                          - Resource: Culturally Responsive Pathways to Peer Programming in Tribal Communities
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                          - Resource: Defining Child Exposure to Domestic Violence: Lessons From a Historical Review of the Literature
                          - Resource: Department of Defense School Liaison Program
                          - Resource: Department of Justice Awards Nearly $105 Million To Protect Children From Exploitation, Trauma and Abuse
                          - Resource: Determining Youth and Young Adult Eligibility for Services: Grantee Tools and Processes
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                          - Resource: Developing a Graduate Mental Health Internship Program
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                          - Resource: Diversity, Racial Equity, and Inclusion in Child Welfare: Our Shared Vocabulary 
                          - Resource: Domestic Violence, Child Welfare, and the School System
                          - Resource: Encouraging Families to Visit a Literacy Website: A Randomized Study of the Impact of Email and Text Message Communications
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                          - Resource: Engaging Survivors of Human Trafficking
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                          - Resource: Family-Based Justice Center
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                          - Resource: Guidance for Immigrant and Refugee Families: Parenting in a New Country
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                          - Resource: Guides for How to Incorporate Coregulation with Older Youth in Foster Care
                          - Resource: Having the Normalcy Conversation
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                          - Resource: State Kinship Care Contacts and Programs
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                          - Resource: Strategic Planning in Child Welfare: Agency Process Alignment Toolkit
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                          - Resource: The AMBER Advocate, Issue 3, 2022
                          - Resource: The Impact of COVID-19 on College and University Students Who Self-Injure: Risks and Strategies for Mitigation
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                          - Resource: Tribal Customary Adoption
                          - Resource: U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health
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                          - Second Chance Month: April 2023
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### Briefs 

                          - Strategic Planning in Child Welfare: Strategies for Meaningful Youth, Family, and Other Partner Engagement

### Collaboration Profiles 

                          - Program Components
                          - Promising Practices/Accomplishments
                          - Y2CONNECT.org

### Data Sources 

                          - 2011-2021 YRBS Data Summary and Trends Report

### Feature Articles 

                          - Healthy Youth Development through Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation
                          - Just Launched! Redesigned YE4C
                          - Resources to Support Youth Who Have Lost a Caregiver

### Programs 

                          - John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood

### Resources 

                          - Webinar Recording: Helping the LGBTQIA+ Community Before Disasters: Preparedness and Mitigation Considerations
                          - Youth Advisory Councils

### Youth Topics 

                          - Family Engagement

## Youth Briefs

How Individualized Education Program (IEP) Transition Planning Makes a Difference for Youth with Disabilities
Youth who receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) and especially young adults of transition age, should be involved in planning for life after high school as early as possible and no later than age 16. Transition services should stem from the individual youth’s needs and strengths, ensuring that planning takes into account his or her interests, preferences, and desires for the future.

Youth Transitioning to Adulthood: How Holding Early Leadership Positions Can Make a Difference
Research links early leadership with increased self-efficacy and suggests that leadership can help youth to develop decision making and interpersonal skills that support successes in the workforce and adulthood. In addition, young leaders tend to be more involved in their communities, and have lower dropout rates than their peers. Youth leaders also show considerable benefits for their communities, providing valuable insight into the needs and interests of young people

How Trained Service Professionals and Self-Advocacy Makes a Difference for Youth with Mental Health, Substance Abuse, or Co-occurring Issues
Statistics reflecting the number of youth suffering from mental health, substance abuse, and co-occurring disorders highlight the necessity for schools, families, support staff, and communities to work together to develop targeted, coordinated, and comprehensive transition plans for young people with a history of mental health needs and/or substance abuse.

Young Adults Formerly in Foster Care: Challenges and Solutions
Nearly 30,000 youth aged out of foster care in Fiscal Year 2009, which represents nine percent of the young people involved in the foster care system that year. This transition can be challenging for youth, especially youth who have grown up in the child welfare system.

Coordinating Systems to Support Transition Age Youth with Mental Health Needs
Research has demonstrated that as many as one in five children/youth have a diagnosable mental health disorder. Read about how coordination between public service agencies can improve treatment for these youth.

Civic Engagement Strategies for Transition Age Youth
Civic engagement has the potential to empower young adults, increase their self-determination, and give them the skills and self-confidence they need to enter the workforce. Read about one youth’s experience in AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC).

## Main navigation

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- Service Level: Engaging Families as Partners in Decision-Making
- System Level: Engaging Families as Partners in System Improvement
- Impact of Family Engagement
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2011-2021 YRBS Data Summary and Trends Report

2011-2021 YRBS Data Summary and Trends Report

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