Family Support

At Smart Start, we believe that improved outcomes for children, families, and communities—especially increasing racial equity—are best achieved when local early childhood systems create welcoming spaces where families have a voice in shaping programs and services.

Family-led initiatives address root causes and build stronger care systems.

Our Approach

Smart Start partners with families by providing:

  • Leadership Opportunities: Building advocacy capacity 
  • Parenting Education: Strengthening parent-child relationships
  • Community Connections: Linking to peers and resources to support concrete needs 

Recognizing that parents are a child’s first teacher, Smart Start offers evidence-based and evidence-informed, family-focused programs that support and educate. Our programs aim to: 

  • Increase parental knowledge of child development 
  • Enhance parent confidence 
  • Promote positive parenting practices 

Through established relationships with parents and caregivers, Smart Start also connects families with other community resources to ensure they have the relational and concrete supports they need to thrive. 

Support from NCPC

The North Carolina Partnership for Children (NCPC) supports Local Partnerships in implementing and evaluating family support programs by offering: 

  • Communities of practice 
  • Training 
  • Technical assistance on family engagement and leadership 

Impact of Our Programs

The impact of our family support programs includes: 

  • Increasing positive parenting practices 
  • Enhancing parent social support 
  • Expanding knowledge of parenting and child development 
  • Improving access to basic needs for families 
  • Boosting social and emotional development for children 

Our Reach

Smart Start’s 65 Local Partnerships offer at least one family support program or service to support children and their families. Some of the programs supported and administered by the Smart Start Network include:

  • Parents as Teachers 
  • Kaleidoscope Play and Learn 
  • Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) 
  • Circle of Parents 
  • Nurturing Parenting Program 
  • Nurse-Family Partnership 
  • And more! 

Building with, and not for families is impactful work that benefits communities, families and children. Imbedded in the Smart Start value-system is a family-centered mentality that recognizes that when families are seen as partners, organizations achieve sustainable outcomes for children.

The NC Family Engagement and Leadership Framework

The NC Family Engagement and Leadership Framework is a roadmap for pursuing family centered, family-led work. It allows agencies and programs to consider ways to engage with and learn from the primary adults in a child’s life. The goal is that families experience support in building knowledge about services available and choices, so they can develop leadership skills to advocate for children, themselves, and for systems’ improvement.  

Deciding where to start when putting the Framework into action may feel overwhelming at first. However, accessible, user-friendly resources can help move the work along more effectively and efficiently. MomsRising, in collaboration with the North Carolina Partnership for Children, developed a comprehensive set of tools to support agencies as they develop cross-sector coalitions and center family voices. For every step in the process, tools have been created to help agencies think through and address challenges that may arise. The tools are divided into four stages: 

  1. Pre-Planning: One of the most important stages in family engagement and leadership work is what happens before family leaders are even invited to the table. These tools can help agencies think through policies and procedures, staffing to engage in this work, how to create fair family leader payment, as well as mindset shifts that need to be considered for authentic family engagement. 
  2. Recruitment: First impressions are everything. How family leaders are invited to the table matters just as much as why they are invited. The tools in this section support authentic relationship-building from the first contact. 
  3. Creating a Welcoming Table: When engaging cross-sector coalitions, it is essential that not only the host agency be welcoming, but all other representatives at the table are welcoming as well. These tools support agencies in gaining buy-in and creating ownership with community agencies and partners. 
  4. Family Leaders Feeling and Flexing their Power: Once the table is set supporting family leaders as they feel and flex their own power is critical to ensuring their voices are heard and that they are guiding the decisions being made. The tools in this section will highlight the significance of stories and how to encourage family leaders to confidently share their stories with decision makers. 
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