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Module 3

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Making Family Goals a Reality


So many families who enroll in Head Start feel that their lives happen to them. We try to help them see that they have a say in what happens...they can set a goal, a direction, then go after it. --Head Start Staff, New Hampshire

Outcomes
After completing this module, participants will be able to:

• Help families identify goals that are realistic, specific, time-limited, and results-oriented; and
  
  
• Make plans with families for achieving their goals.
  

Key Concepts
The key concepts of Module 3 that serve as a knowledge base for the skills needed to help families identify and achieve their goals include:

• Goals. Goals identify what the family hopes to attain. A clearly articulated and defined goal statement has four characteristics; it is: 1) realistic, 2) specific, 3) time-limited, and 4) results-oriented.
  
  
• Goal Setting Strategies. The strategies of "visioning" and "creating a family picture" can help families articulate and define their goals. Goal- setting is an ongoing process because the family's goals change and evolve over time.
  
  
• Achieving Family Goals. After the goals are identified, staff should encourage the family to make them a reality. Staff should provide families opportunities to create plans that describe the strategies, responsibilities, and timetables for goal achievement.
  

Background Information
Each family determines the direction of family partnership agreements. Goal setting is one type of interaction that can occur during the family partnership agreement process. Staff should initiate family goal setting by building on the information explored by the staff and family,their strengths, supports, achievements, skills, and challenges-and inviting families to look toward the future. Staff, using the strategies of visioning and creating a family picture, encourage families to identify their goals. Once the family's goals for the future are identified, staff offer parents opportunities and supports to make its goals a reality.

Identifying Family Goals
Goals state what the family hopes to attain. The strategies, discussed below, can be used by staff to help families identify their goals.

• Visioning. Visioning is a strategy that can bring family members together to recognize and share their hopes for the future. Family members are encouraged to look beyond their day-to-day concerns and develop a mental picture of their desires for the family. Visioning might seem to be a "pie in the sky" approach. However, it is simpler to get where you want to go when you know where that is. Through the visioning process, family members are able to develop a shared sense of family direction that can inspire them to work together in articulating and defining family goals.
  
  
Creating the Family Picture. After visioning, families begin to define what they want to achieve by drawing or writing their dreams on paper. Creating a picture enables the family to understand not only its hopes, but also those of the individual family members. The family picture depicts the family's goals.

For family goals to be meaningful, they should be stated in terms that are clear and understandable to everyone involved. Goals should also be positively stated; that is, they must indicate what the family will do, not what the family will stop dong. Further, to help ensure the family's success in achieving the goals, goal statements must be: 1) realistic, 2) specific, 3) time-limited, and 4) results-oriented;



• Realistic. Goals must be based upon realistic expectations; that is, outcomes or changes that are truly possible for the family to achieve and within the family's control. For example, it is not realistic for any family to expect to be totally free of conflict or stress. However, it is realistic for a family to expect to acquire skills for dealing more effectively with conflict and stress.
  
  
• Specific. Goals must clearly describe what the family wants to achieve in observable terms. For example, if a family expresses the desire for family members to stop fighting, a specific goal for the immediate future might read: "Family members will learn and use non-harmful ways of expressing anger, including calling 'time out' and using positive methods of child discipline." With the behaviors specified, the family will know when the goal has been achieved.
  
  
• Time-Limited. A goal must establish the time limits for achievement; that is, the point in time when the family can reasonably expect the goal to be completed. For example, with resources available to teach a family anger management skills, a reasonable target date for achieving the goal presented above might be three to four weeks.
  
  
• Results-Oriented. A family goal must be results-oriented; that is, it must be stated in a way that makes it possible for family members to agree on its achievement. For example; a goal that states "the Jones family will spend more time together and improve their communication skills" is left undefined. Goals that contain this type of wording are neither measurable nor observable. Unless some specific improvements are spelled out, family members may never be able to agree on what they consider to be "improved" or on how much "more time" is enough. A results-oriented goal might read: "The Jones family will devote at least three hours a week to positive family interaction (doing homework, playing, working in the garden, or sitting and talking together)."

Achieving Family Goals

Once the family's goals for the future are identified, staff should encourage parents to make them a reality. This module presents a six-step approach to help families achieve their goals. This approach describes not only the family's goals, but also the strategies, responsibilities, and timetables for achieving them. It is important to remember that one approach will not work for every family. Therefore, staff must individualize their efforts with families, allowing for differences among families in their goals and how they want to achieve them. A six-step approach involves:

• Step 1: Review Goal Statements and Incorporate Pre-Existing Plans.
  This step involves reviewing the goal statements developed by the family to make sure that they are accurate and encompass the four characteristics of a clearly articulated and defined goal. It also involves, where appropriate, reviewing and building on all other family agreements, including Individual Family Service Plans, Individual Education Plans, Individual Health Plans, transition plans, and plans developed with other community partners. This step builds focus, clarifies goals, and avoids duplication of effort or conflict with any pre-existing family plans developed through the Head Start program or other community agencies.
  
  
• Step 2: Recognize Skills, Resources, and Supports. This step involves identifying family and community resources and supports that are available to help the family achieve its goal. This is a time of creativity, for laying out all the possibilities, and for finding out how the family would like to proceed. Once the resources and supports are identified, the staff and family may ask other members to join the partnership and support the family in achieving its goals. If members are added to the team, the family's goal should be reviewed so that all members understand what they will be working to achieve. At this point, the team should identify all the skills that its members possess. This step ensures that all skills, resources, and supports available for achieving the goal are considered.
  
  
• Step 3: Identify Strategies. Step 3 involves identifying concrete strategies for achieving the family goals. The strategies should not be too complex, nor require several steps or months to accomplish. If complexity cannot be avoided, the strategy should be broken down into "double" activities that bring a sense of accomplishment and success along the way. Identifying strategies builds team consensus and ensures that the strategies are within the realm of possibility.
  
  
• Step 4: Assign Responsibility. Step 4 involves assigning the responsibility for the identified strategies to team members based on the skills, resources, and supports previously identified. If there is a strategy that requires a skill no member possesses, or a resource to which the team doesn't have access, the team focuses its attention on overcoming the barrier. Assigning responsibility for the strategies to team members creates a sense of ownership, builds on strengths, promotes the development of new skills and competencies, distributes the work, reduces the risk of team members becoming overwhelmed, and makes follow-up and progress review manageable.
  
  
• Step 5: Create a Timetable. In step 5, the team identifies the completion date(s) for each assigned strategy. Reasonable time frames for accomplishing the strategies are critical. This step holds the team accountable and makes assessing progress manageable. Copies of written plans should be made for the family and all team members.
  
  
• Step 6: Provide Follow-Up and Progress Review. Because identifying family goals is an ongoing process, step 6 involves continuously updating, checking, and refining or setting goals. Staff should review, record, and reinforce the family's progress toward goal achievement, providing additional support where appropriate. In addition, the process of following up with a family through formal and informal opportunities helps staff determine whether the kind, quality, and timeliness of the services family members received met the family's expectations, needs, and circumstances. Not only does follow-up keep team members on task and on time, but it also provides an opportunity for staff and families to revisit and revise the goal statements, ensures program accountability, recognizes family achievements, and reviews the provided services and referral outcomes.

Next Steps:
Ideas to Extend Practice


Follow-up training strategies to reinforce the concepts and skills taught in Module 3 are presented below. After completing Module 3, review the strategies with staff and help them choose at least one to work on individually or as part of a team.

• Planning for the Future

  Encourage staff to continue identifying goals by completing handout 1 with their own families. Then, have staff work with their families to develop a plan for achieving their goals (handouts 3 and 5 will be of assistance). When the staff meet with the trainer or coach, discuss the following: How was the experience? What was easy about doing it? What was hard about doing it? What was learned? What strategies can the staff person use in working with Head Start families? What insights does this experience suggest for continuing professional development?

• Identifying Goals for the Head Start Program

  At a staff retreat or monthly meeting, get staff involved in helping the Head Start program set its goals. Handout 1 will assist in planning the activity. Staff may first want to identify his or her individual goals for the program, and then work together to select the program goals. Encourage staff to meet again to develop a written plan for achieving the program's goals (see handouts 3 and 5).

• Celebrating the Achievements

  Host a family forum and celebration to recognize success in achieving individual and family goals. Ask family members to share stories about their goal achievements. Celebrate each family's success with mementos for the family storybook, awards, or certificates of congratulations. After recognizing each family, end the evening with a reception. Encourage families to network with each to find supports for achieving their current or new goals.

HANDOUTS	ACTIVITIES
Handout 1	Activity 1
Handout 2	Activity 2
Handout 3	Activity 3
Handout 4
Handout 5
Handout 6