Family Diversity

Montanans possess a wide range of attitudes and beliefs when it comes to how they live their lives, how they raise their children, and how they accept feedback from outside professionals. When the families you work with live drastically different lives and have rigid beliefs about how to best parent their children, your relationships can become strained and result in negative feelings. To improve your capacity to work effectively with families you find personally challenging, it is important to learn more about value differences and how to reconcile those differences.

The following learning outcomes will be addressed in this course.

• Identify personal values, beliefs, and attitudes as they relate to connecting with and building relationships with diverse families.
• Identify and describe family-centered principles as the foundation of how you provide services to young children and families.
• Articulate examples of family-centered practice as it relates to diverse families.
• Utilize a decision-making process to select partnership-oriented practices linked to developing an initial relationship, making shared decisions, and developing a trusting partnership with families.
• Recognize challenges in working with diverse families and identify ways to resolve these challenges.

(approx. 1 hour)