Family Partnership: Practical Implications from a Case Study of a Refugee Family

Abstract

The attendance of children from refugee families at Head Start agencies provides the opportunity for Head Start staff to foster trusting family partnerships that are collaborative, respectful, and goal-oriented. The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the actions of the Head Start staff and a refugee family that could have potentially developed into a trusting partnership between them and determine what facilitated or impeded the formation of this partnership. The findings indicated that the relationship between the family and Head Start staff was positive but not the type of trusting partnership that the Head Start national standards advocate. Factors that facilitated and impeded the formation of trusting partnership in this case study as well as implications for practice are discussed.