Families and child care professionals are partners who have the shared responsibility of doing the best for the children in their care. Child care professionals need to get to know families and build upon their strengths. Families have something to offer child care providers. Traditionally, exchanges between arents and child care professionals have been viewed as a means of informing families about their child. However, in family-centered programs it is recognized that, while professionals bring information to parents about child development and about their experiences with many children, families provide information about the individual child, across time and in a variety of settings.
Contemporary families experience multiple demands.
Employment, housing, health care, and transportation are some issues facing families, whose lack of contact with child care programs should not be mistaken for lack of concern for their child. It is important to provide a range of options for families to participate in this aspect of their child's life, and to allow families to choose the type and level of participation which suits them. Achieving family-centered child care calls for action on the part of families, program providers, communities, and policymakers. The following are steps toward encouraging family-centered child care. Get the message out.