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In her article, "Moving from Family Participation to Partnerships" in the new Exchange Press book Engaging Families in Early Childhood Organizations, Anne Stonehouse writes, "The early childhood profession has a strong tradition of involving families — that is, finding ways to help families connect with services.  Involvement, sometimes called participation, is valuable, but current thinking suggests going beyond involvement to partnerships."

"Many child care professionals would agree that establishing and maintaining partnerships with families is the most complex part of working in child care.  Most family involvement activities allow the professional to maintain control and power.  Genuine partnerships, on the other hand, require professionals to share power.  True partnerships mean that families and professionals, along with the child, negotiate the child’s experience in child care."

"Partnerships require a confident professional who is open to families’ priorities and requests and who is clear about areas where compromise or negotiation is not possible."

She asks us to consider:

• What’s the difference between family involvement and partnerships?
• Why does it matter?
• What are some practices that promote partnerships?

Contributed by Tina Reeble

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