As Head Start grantees scramble to get their teachers' qualifications in compliance with Head Start Program Performance Standards, family workers nationwide are wondering, "What about us? Isn't the work we do important?"

In fact, family support has recently become a hot topic for most agencies, schools, and community programs. Working with families has been an integral part of Head Start since its inception in 1965. A proponent of family involvement, Head Start has always recognized the importance of family as the first and most important teacher of their children. But, it was not until 1994 that Congress formally acknowledged the importance of parent involvement:

"[E]very school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional and academic growth of children." (GOALS 2000: Educate America Act)

Over 25,000 Head Start family workers spend each day working with families. The term "family worker" refers to a person in a Head Start program whose primary role is working with families. It is interchangeable with similar titles such as family advocate or family service provider. "Health and family services are what make this program different from other programs," stated the late Helen Taylor, Associate Commissioner of Head Start, "Nobody knows how to partner with families better than Head Start, which is why we have thrived all these years."

Recognizing the importance of families is not enough. Training staff to work in partnership with families is crucial. Section 684A(c) of the Head Start Act, P.L. 105-285, calls for the development of qualification standards, competency-based training curricula, and a competency-based, nationally recognized credential for Head Start family service workers. This legislation is further supported by feedback from family workers nationwide whose contributions to the program may not be fully recognized.

Staff must be able to get the training they need to meet minimum performance standards for job performance. It is not enough to find and train family workers; it is equally important to provide a supportive work environment. Too often, family workers receive training, gaining new knowledge and skills, then find that their program service model is not conducive to implementing much of what they learned, or that the caseloads are so high there simply is not enough time to implement the new skills.

To address the issue of competency-based training and credentialing for family workers, the Head Start Bureau organized a series of focus groups that included representatives of different stakeholders. These groups helped identify baseline skills that family workers need to do their jobs effectively.

"A lot of interested, motivated, and dedicated people are selflessly contributing their thoughts, time, and energy to this initiative," maintains Jack Corrigan, Senior Program Specialist for Family and Community Partnership Branch. "The payoff [to future Head Start families] will be enhanced quality services provided by each program's trained and credentialed family worker."

In one focus group of Head Start parents, the question was asked, "What is a good family worker?" A rousing conversation ensued.

One participant offered, "Well, she is accessible to families."
"Is nurturing and caring," said another.
"Understands that being low-income is a financial state, not a reflection of intelligence or capabilities," explained yet another.
"Has good listening skills and communication skills and can relate to many types of people," a participant commented.
One individual interjected, "Stays current on changing program requirements and available resources."
Finally one person exclaimed, "I think what we are saying is that she needs to be an angel!"

Although "superhuman" is not one of the requirements for the position of family worker, it is evident that the demands of the position are extraordinary. Head Start family workers interact daily with families that face a variety of challenging circumstances. This requires the ability to respect and respond competently to the culture, traditions, lifestyle, language, and values of each family and community. Communities are diverse and ever changing, with varying degrees of resources. There is an overarching need for family workers to have community-building skills that go beyond identifying available community resources. Therefore, Head Start family workers need to develop partnerships with professionals in their communities. For those partnerships to be most effective, it is important that the community respect family workers and the skills and knowledge they contribute.

One of Head Start's challenges is to come up with a framework for training family workers that can be used across the country. Because local programs have had the flexibility to determine how to meet their own needs, there is great diversity regarding the education and experience of family workers and the degree of service they provide to families. Any professional development system would use and build upon the existing training and credentialing systems to prepare and support family workers for the critical work that they do. The end result would be better services for children and families.

Recently, Head Start has taken a major step forward in advancing the initiative and moving towards the establishment of a nationwide baseline for qualifications of all family workers in the program as well as for those that are employed in the future. In April 2001, the Administration for Children and Families announced the availability of funds for academic institutions or other training providers to design competency-based training programs suitable for the training and credentialing of Head Start family workers. This investment represents Head Start's continuous commitment to quality services and support of the critical work done by family workers.

Yasmine Daniel [was] the New Jersey Head Start-State Collaboration Project Director in the Office of Early Care and Education, New Jersey Department of Human Services.