Home Visiting 101: The Ins and Outs of Home Visits with Head Start Families Summer Webinar Series: Part One Tina Sykes,

1. Home Visiting 101: The Ins and Outs of Home Visits with Head Start Families Summer Webinar Series: Part One Tina Sykes, M.Ed Infant/Toddler Specialist Head Start State Based T/TA Office for Arizona

2. Objectives Participants will: • review HS Performance Standards related to Home Visiting • identify key components of establishing positive professional relationships with Head Start families

3. Agenda • The What and Why of Home Visiting • Head Start Performance Standards • Home Visiting in Head Start • Building Professional Relationships

4. What is Home Visiting? Home visiting is an early childhood intervention that can enhance parenting and promote the growth and development of young children

5. Home Visiting Uses the home environment to help parents create rich learning opportunities for their children Provides support to families whose life circumstances may prevent them from participating in a more structured setting Is flexible and offers support and child development information to families on their schedule Offers accessibility to families who live in rural communities and who otherwise would not be able to receive services Why Home Visiting?

6. Performance Standards • 1306.33 Home based program option • (b) Home visits must be conducted by trained home visitors with the content of the visit jointly planned by the home visitor and the parents. Home visitors must conduct the home visit with the participation of parents. Home visits may not be conducted by the home visitor with only babysitters or other temporary caregivers in attendance.

7. Performance Standards continued… • 1306.33 Home based program option • (1) The purpose of the home visit is to help parents improve their parenting skills and to assist them in the use of the home as the child's primary learning environment. The home visitor must work with parents to help them provide learning opportunities that enhance their child's growth and development. • (2) Home visits must, over the course of a month, contain elements of all Head Start program components. The home visitor is the person responsible for introducing, arranging and/or providing Head Start services.

8. Frequency and duration of home visits (a) Grantees implementing a home based program option must: • (1) Provideone home visit per week per family, lasting for a minimum of 1 and a half hours each

9. Frequency and duration of home visits 1306.32 Center Based Option 8) Head Start grantees must develop and implement a system that actively encourages parents to participate in two home visits annually for each child enrolled in a center based program option. These visits must be initiated and carried out by the child's teacher. The child may not be dropped from the program if the parents will not participate in the visits.

10. Frequency and duration of home visits Home visits that are cancelled by program staff must be rescheduled to meet the required number of yearly home visits

11. Home Visiting in Head Start • Home visits must occur in the home: medical visits or social service visits can NOT replace a home visit • Home visits are conducted with the parent or primary caregiver

12. EHS home visits provide comprehensive services to support and strengthen the relationships between infants, toddlers and their parents Home visiting in Early Head Start

13. Home Visiting is a PARTNERSHIP • Successful home visiting requires a partnership between the visitor and the family • That partnership begins with the home visitor developing a professional relationship with the Head Start family.

14. Building Professional Relationships • Begins at first contact with family • Takes time, effort and intentionality • May look different for families under stress • Must include explanation of the “C” word

15. The “C” word… CONFIDENTIALITY Confidentiality Guidelines • Importance of maintaining confidentiality • Mandated Reporter Role • Sharing information with others

16. Fundamentals of Relationship Building Relationships are the foundation of our work

17. FAB FIVE Fundamentals of Relationship Building Boundaries Empathic Listening Honesty Respect Consistency

18. Boundaries “Boundaries are the framework within which the worker/client relationship occurs. Boundaries make the relationship professional and safe for the client and set the parameters within which services are delivered.” (College of Psychologists of Ontario, 1998)

19. Key Boundary Questions • What are the costs? What are the benefits? • What is my motivation? • What is my role? What is the work? • What am I committing myself to?

20. Progression of Boundary Problems • Boundary Inattention • Boundary Crossing • Boundary Violations

21. Boundary Inattention The problem is primarily the worker’s absence of awareness of the significance of a family’s frequent appearance in his/her thoughts or activities outside of work

22. Boundary Crossing A “crossing” indicates a point at which some action occurred that usually did not result in harm to the family.

23. Boundary Violation A “violation” results in harm to the family and worker

24. Maintaining Professional Boundaries • Be intentional when setting boundaries • Let families know the boundaries you have set • Be honest with yourself and seek supervision when needed

25. Empathic Listening “Empathy is the ability to project oneself into the personality of another person in order to better understand that person’s emotions or feelings. Through empathic listening, the listener lets the speaker know, I understand your problem and how you feel about it. I am interested in what you are saying and I am not judging you.” (Salem, 2003)

26. Benefits of Empathic Listening • builds trust and respect • enables the families to release their emotions • reduces tensions • encourages the surfacing of information • creates a safe environment that is conducive to collaborative problem solving

27. Empathic Listening How to do it: • Ask permission • Ask open-ended questions • Listen and encourage verbal and non verbal prompts • Reflect /summarize some of what you hear • Ask a key question • Show appreciation

28. Honesty Honesty is stating an emotionally neutral description of what’s really happening in a particular situation. (Michael H. Smith, Ph.D.)

29. Responding with Honesty A family says…. • I think I should leave my husband. • My daughter made me so mad yesterday I just had to spank her. • I’m pregnant (said by a teen mom who also has a 3 year old and a 15 month old).

30. Respect Respect is an attitude of acknowledging the feelings and interests of another party in a relationship. (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia)

31. How can we show respect for families… • In their homes • In the office • In verbal interactions and greetings • In physical conduct • In regards to time

32. Showing respect is sometimes hard… There are some times or situations when it may be difficult to show respect and accept the decisions of families.

33. Consistency Not varying; always behaving or happening in a similar, especially positive way. (Cambridge Dictionary)

34. Maintaining Consistency with families In order to form effective relationships with families, it is imperative that our work be consistent in all respects.

35. Consistency Tools • Treating families equally and fairly • Follow-through and follow up • Modeling expectations for the relationship • Bravery in the face of conflict

36. Let’s sum it up… • There are Home Visiting performance standards that we must be sure to follow • Developing professional relationships is ESSENTIAL when home visiting: REMEMBER THE FAB FIVE • Home Visiting is hard work… make sure you get the support you need

37. When you hang up the phone… Here are some things to consider: • Do my home visiting practices meet the Head Start Performance Standards? If not, what do I need to change? • What are my professional boundaries? Have I shared these boundaries with the families on my caseload? • As a home visitor, am I seeking and receiving the support I need in order to effectively serve families? If not, what steps can I take to get the support I need?

38. Final Thought…. The role of the Home Visitor is as a: • facilitator NOT director • coach NOT teacher • supporter NOT evaluator PARTNER WITH PARENTS ~ Linda Kimura, Babies Can’t Wait

39. The Arizona Head Start Training and Technical Assistance Office and STG International thank you for joining our webinar today! Please continue to join the 2010 Summer Webinar Series occurring every Tuesday and Thursday during the months of June and July at 3:00 Pacific Daylight Time. Please contact Mary Kramer Reinwasser at mary.reinwasser@stginternational.com for more information. 39

40. Mark your calendars! Be sure to join me for Home Visiting Part 2 on June 17 from 3:00-4:00. Discussion topics include: • Structuring home visits • Linking home visits to socializations • Home visitor safety and stress management