Family Liaison

FAMILY LIAISON ROLE AND MISSION

Research continues to emphasize the importance of parent involvement in promoting school success.  At the same time, the lack of participation among parents of socially and culturally diverse students is also well-documented.  Today’s families constantly deal with stress that impacts students’ abilities to participate in academic and extra-curricular school activities.  If schools are to do an effective job of educating their increasingly diverse populations of students, they must find ways to communicate and build more cooperative working relationships with parents.

 Family Liaisons:                                               

• Facilitate parent-school communication;
• Facilitate community agency referrals;
• Encourage parent involvement in the school;                       
• Foster trust between parents and the educational community
• Foster higher academic achievement through collaboration with school personnel.

The primary role of the Family Liaison is to empower parents to become active participants in the education of their children.  Targeted are those parents who:

• need help in determining how best to help their children;
• are infrequent participants in school activities;
• may need clarification of their role in the educational process; and
• need assistance in making connections and accessing services.

What is a Family Liaison?

A Family Liaison is a person who works to bridge the communication between school and home by helping parents get the information, help and support they need to ensure their child's academic and social success in school.

How can the Family Liaison help me?

Often, parents feel uncomfortable about sharing their questions or concerns with the teachers or school administration. Because good communication between home and school is such a vital part of your child's academic success, the Family Liaison will listen to your concerns and then work with you to make sure that your situation, question or point of view is expressed and understood. They will help and support you if you need to find ways to resolve any issues that may be hindering your child's success in school. Family Liaisons want to be sure that you understand what you can do to get involved, keep informed, share information, and help your child do his or her best.

What kind of assistance can the Family Liaison provide?

Information

• They will provide you with a personal tour of the school and explain the programs and resources available to you and your child. You do not have to be a new parent to get a school tour.
• They will discuss some of the ways you can get more involved with school.
• They will answer questions you may have about school rules and regulations.

Conferences

• They will help arrange meetings between you and your child’s teachers or the school administration so that important information about your child is shared and understood.
• At your request, they will accompany you to a parent conference or other important meetings at the school to help clarify information about your child or home situation.
• They will help you arrange for an interpreter if you need to communicate in your own language.

Special help and services

• They will find out whom you need to call or where you need to go to get special help or services for your child or your family.