New resources support strong partnerships between
families and child care practitioners

[Ottawa, ON – May 5, 2008] Today the Canadian Child Care Federation launched on its website a set of user-friendly, accessible tools to help practitioners build strong partnerships with the families of the children they serve. Workshops, articles and resource sheets highlight the importance of partnerships and will provide tips and strategies on how families and practitioners can work together to help children develop the social skills that will help them succeed in school and throughout life.

Research shows that strong practitioner-family partnerships benefit children’s social well-being. In fact, practitioner-family relationships are a key element of quality as identified in the sector’s National Statement of Quality Early Learning and Child Care and Occupational Standards for Child Care Practitioners. Yet building these partnerships isn’t always easy. Families using child care services are increasingly diverse, with complex needs and backgrounds. Miscommunication, diversity of experience and differing expectations are all factors that can hinder successful partnerships.

“Families and child care practitioners both bring incredible assets to their relationships with children and each other. Families bring their hopes and dreams for their children, along with the deep understandings that they have acquired through their years of childrearing. Practitioners bring their professional skills and experience as well as their observations of the children’s interactions in a group setting. When they work together they are ideal partners in helping children to develop social competence,” said Don Giesbrecht, CCCF president.

The new resources present ways to nurture the partnership, beginning when a family enrolls in child care, and continuing with ongoing communication on a daily basis. They highlight ways that families and practitioners can work together to address key elements of social development, including learning positive behaviour, building self-esteem, enhancing problem-solving skills and resiliency, strengthening communication skills and supporting cultural identity.

The first set of the resources will be launched on May 5; the second set will be launched in fall 2009. The articles and resource sheets are being distributed for free to 11,000 child care practitioners across Canada. All materials can also be downloaded for free from the CCCF website: ww.qualitychildcarecanada.ca.

Canada’s largest child care organization, CCCF is a vibrant partnership of 10provincial/territorial child care organizations representing over 11,000 members, including child care practitioners working in centres and family child care, academics, parents and policy makers.

CCCF gratefully acknowledges funding for these resources from the Government of Canada’s Social Development Partnerships Program. The opinions and interpretations in the resources are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of Canada.

Backgrounder

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Media contacts:

Don Giesbrecht, President
Canadian Child Care Federation
Tel.: 204.889.9858
dgiesbrecht@cccf-fcsge.ca

Claire McLaughlin, Communications Manager
Canadian Child Care Federation
Tel.: 613.729.5289 ext. 221
cmclaughlin@cccf-fcsge.ca