WU Community Youth Center Pamphlet

PARTNERING WITH PARENTS

Social work with children inevitably involves working with caregivers and other important adults in children’s lives. Children are not legally responsible for initiating, scheduling, or paying for social work services so even social workers who exclusively conduct individual therapy sessions with children will need to engage in some collaborative conversations with parents or guardians. Parents and caregivers have considerable influence on the child’s home environment, and adult caregivers can provide better care to children when they feel supported. In addition, partnering with parents should be a goal of social workers who work with children since children will experience greater healing and progress toward goals when multiple adults in their lives work collaboratively to foster their growth.

In this Assignment, you practice communicating with parents and caregivers by creating an informational flyer describing social work services at a youth center.

To prepare:

Review the Learning Resources on working with parents. Consider how you might communicate your services and the importance of the collaborative relationship to the parents of children with whom you are working. 

Review the Learning Resources on flyers and infographics. 

Review the following scenario: 

Imagine that you are a social worker who has just been hired by a community youth center to provide children with individual and group support to manage mental health needs, develop social connections, and enhance coping capacity. You will also provide children and families with referrals to needed community resources to help them live safe and healthy lives. This is the first time the youth center has ever had a social worker on staff, so the community is not familiar with your role. You have already begun to introduce yourself to the young people who frequent the youth center and have been a consistent presence at many of the center’s programs. You would like to introduce yourself to parents and caregivers to help them understand your role and the ways you could potentially support them and their children.

BY DAY 7

Submit a 1- to 2-page informational pamphlet or flyer for parents and caregivers that describes your work with children. Be aware that, while the focus of your work is on children, the audience for your pamphlet is parents and caregivers. Include the following information in your pamphlet or flyer:  

Briefly describe the services you provide to children and families. 

Explain the importance of collaborative work with parents and caregivers. 

Describe strategies parents and caregivers can employ to promote their child’s progress at home.

Note: Your pamphlet or flyer should use clear, accessible language, and include graphic or visual elements. 

Resources

Cohen Konrad, S. (2020). Child and family practice: A relational perspective (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. 

Chapter 6, “Working With Parents” (pp. 147–170) 

Canva. (n.d.). The ultimate guide to flyer designLinks to an external site.. https://www.canva.com/learn/the-ultimate-guide-to-…
 

Cohen, A., & Mosek, A. (2019). “Power together”: Professionals and parents of children with disabilities creating productive partnershipsLinks to an external site.. Child & Family Social Work, 24(4), 565–573. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12637

National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement. (n.d.). Building partnerships with families seriesLinks to an external site.. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/family-engagement/ar…

Visme. (2022). 12 best infographic tools for 2023 (full comparison guide)Links to an external site.. https://visme.co/blog/tools-to-create-infographics…