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!