Breakout Session

Building Parent Power: Strategies to Recruit, Engage, and Sustain Parent Involvement

Breakout Session B
Tue, Jun 16, 2026 | 12:40 - 1:40pm CDT

Session overview

Track:

Strengthening Partnerships to Support Young Children

Audience level: 

Enhanced

Intended audience:

Anyone who interacts directly with young children and/or their families, Anyone who works with young children in early childhood education, Early childhood educators, Early Head Start personnel, EDN providers, Family support workers, Foster care support workers, Foster parents, Head Start personnel, Parents/caregivers, School administrators, School representatives, Service providers

Session materials: 

This session does not have any session materials currently.

Session Description

When parents serve as effective partners on early childhood teams, programs are stronger. Parents bring lived experience, expertise, and essential perspectives to early childhood teams, councils, task forces and other stakeholder groups. This session will explore how to recruit parents including those from different backgrounds, equip them for effective participation and potential leadership roles, and create the supports needed to sustain their involvement. Participants will learn strategies for overcoming common barriers, hear examples from Nebraska and national practices (OSEP/DEC/ECTA), and walk away with resources, action steps, and ideas for embedding the parent voice into early childhood systems.

Learning objectives

  1. Explain the value of parent partnership in strengthening early childhood teams and improving program outcomes.
  2. Identify strategies and supports for recruiting parents, sustaining their involvement, and reducing barriers—drawing on Nebraska and national models (OSEP/DEC/ECTA).
  3. Develop action steps to embed meaningful parent voices into early childhood systems.
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