The goal of the Family Engagement Toolkit is to help home visiting programs strengthen their engagement with families through practical resources. The Family Engagement Toolkit is one component of the Understanding and Expanding the Reach of Home Visiting (HV-REACH) project.
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Switchboard adapted a cultural backgrounder on Afghanistan, originally produced by Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange, to support refugee service workers in providing cultural responsive care to Afghan families who have resettled in the U.S. This Afghanistan cultural backgrounder includes information on the historical context, languages, holidays, traditions, and family dynamics, among other topics.
In this two-part series, Welcoming America explains the meaning of language access and gives you the fundamental tools to distinguish language access tools and work effectively with language access tools to support limited English proficiency families in your program.
The Cultural Orientation Resource Exchange (CORE) developed this Rohingya cultural backgrounder to support refugee service workers in providing culturally responsive care to Rohingya families resettled in the U.S. This Rohingya cultural backgrounder includes information on the history, language, family, social life, and cultural considerations for U.S. cultural integration, among others.
Bridging Refugee Children & Youth Services (BRYCS) created this toolkit to support staff who work with refugee families in utilizing cultural backgrounders to effectively provide culturally responsive care.
Resource: Using Cultural Backgrounders in Work with Newcomers
In this free learning course, Switchboard teaches the fundamentals of working with an interpreter, including key terms, the role of an interpreter, and why it’s important to use an interpreter when working with families who have limited English proficiency. This course is intended for providers who are new to working with interpreters. The estimated time to complete this course is 30 minutes.
Resource: Working with Interpreters (part 1)
In this policy brief, the Migration Policy Institute and the Aspen Institute highlight the importance of building trust with newcomer families when providing services to both parents and children. This policy brief explores what it takes to build trust with newcomer families and the positive results that can come from inclusive programming. Strategies such as 1. hiring and retaining culturally competent staff and 2. creating welcoming spaces are explored in this brief.
Resource: Building Trust with Immigrant and Refugee Families
Explore how to build strong, trust-based relationships in home visiting. Learn key practices, benefits, and how to navigate boundary challenges as relationships evolve.
Resources: https://youtu.be/Kl2YCjpfrD4
Explore effective practices for navigating hard conversations in home visiting. Learn how to set the stage, use a strength-based approach, and improve outcomes through reflective, relationship-centered communication.
Resource: https://youtu.be/Vz25G8yuE8A
