Instrument 5: Focus Groups of Head Start Family Support Services Staff Members

F ocus Groups of Head Start Family Support Services Staff Members

FOCUS GROUPS OF HEAD START FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES STAFF MEMBERS

The purpose of the focus groups of family support services staff members is to capture information about innovations and ideas for improving how Head Start programs coordinate and individualize family support services.

This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to build knowledge about Head Start family support services and the staff members involved in coordinating such services. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 75 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB number for this information collection is 0970-0538 and the expiration date is XX/XX/XXXX. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to [Contractor Contact Name]; [Contractor Contact Address]. 

Introductions. First, let’s introduce ourselves. We’d like to go around the virtual “room” and have each person share your name, where you’re located, and how long you’ve been a family support worker.

G1.) What are things you like about your job or the way your program coordinates family support services?

G2.) What do you find challenging about your job or the way your program coordinates family support services?

G3.) If money for your program were not an issue, what changes would you make in your program to better support and meet the needs of families? Where do you think improvements are needed to better coordinate and tailor services for families?

Scaffold by:

• Specifically related to:

  • what your community and families in your community need

  • needs assessment and goal setting

  • referrals

  • following up

  • the ways in which you engage and contact families, including the way you try to get parents interested in support services, and how those methods are or are not tailored to the community and family cultures of your program

  • what support services and resources you provide families

  • access to service providers

  • staffing structure

  • communication among Head Start staff

  • communication with service providers

• Any other challenges discussed in G2?

G4.) Are there things that you do, or that your program does, that you think are innovative or unique about coordinating family support services or tailoring services for families; or that would be useful for other programs or FSWs to know about/use?

Scaffold by:

• Specifically related to:

  • what your community and families in your community need

  • needs assessment and goal setting

  • referrals

  • following up

  • the ways in which you engage and contact families, including the way you try to get parents interested in support services, and how those methods are or are not tailored to the community and family cultures of your program what support services and resources you provide families

  • staffing structure

  • communication among Head Start staff

  • communication with service providers

• Anything discussed in G1?

G5.) Imagine that support services in your community were funded to fully meet the needs of the families you work with. How would your job look different? What would you do differently?

Thank you for sharing your time and your views with us today. We deeply appreciate your contribution to Head Start Connects: A Study of Family Support Services. If you have any questions about the study or today’s focus group, please feel free to contact a member of our team – you have that contact information in the email you received ahead of our conversation today.

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