[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 45, Volume 4]
[Revised as of October 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 45CFR1304.40]

[Page 129-132]
 
                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE
 
CHAPTER XIII--OFFICE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 
                           AND HUMAN SERVICES
 
PART 1304_PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR THE OPERATION OF HEAD START 
 
               Subpart C_Family and Community Partnerships
 
Sec.  1304.40  Family partnerships.


    (a) Family goal setting. (1) Grantee and delegate agencies must 
engage in a process of collaborative partnership-building with parents 
to establish mutual trust and to identify family goals, strengths, and 
necessary services and other supports. This process must be initiated as 
early after enrollment as possible and it must take into consideration 
each family's readiness and willingness to participate in the process.
    (2) As part of this ongoing partnership, grantee and delegate 
agencies must offer parents opportunities to develop and implement 
individualized family partnership agreements that describe family goals, 
responsibilities, timetables and strategies for achieving these goals as 
well as progress in achieving them. In home-based program options, this 
agreement must include the above information as well as the specific 
roles of parents in home visits and group socialization activities (see 
45 CFR 1306.33(b)).
    (3) To avoid duplication of effort, or conflict with, any 
preexisting family plans developed between other programs and the Early 
Head Start or Head Start family, the family partnership agreement must 
take into account, and build upon as appropriate, information obtained 
from the family and other community agencies concerning preexisting 
family plans. Grantee and delegate agencies must coordinate, to the 
extent possible, with families and other agencies to support the 
accomplishment of goals in the preexisting plans.
    (4) A variety of opportunities must be created by grantee and 
delegate agencies for interaction with parents throughout the year.
    (5) Meetings and interactions with families must be respectful of 
each family's diversity and cultural and ethnic background.

[[Page 130]]

    (b) Accessing community services and resources. (1) Grantee and 
delegate agencies must work collaboratively with all participating 
parents to identify and continually access, either directly or through 
referrals, services and resources that are responsive to each family's 
interests and goals, including:
    (i) Emergency or crisis assistance in areas such as food, housing, 
clothing, and transportation;
    (ii) Education and other appropriate interventions, including 
opportunities for parents to participate in counseling programs or to 
receive information on mental health issues that place families at risk, 
such as substance abuse, child abuse and neglect, and domestic violence; 
and
    (iii) Opportunities for continuing education and employment training 
and other employment services through formal and informal networks in 
the community.
    (2) Grantee and delegate agencies must follow-up with each family to 
determine whether the kind, quality, and timeliness of the services 
received through referrals met the families' expectations and 
circumstances.
    (c) Services to pregnant women who are enrolled in programs serving 
pregnant women, infants, and toddlers. (1) Early Head Start grantee and 
delegate agencies must assist pregnant women to access comprehensive 
prenatal and postpartum care, through referrals, immediately after 
enrollment in the program. This care must include:
    (i) Early and continuing risk assessments, which include an 
assessment of nutritional status as well as nutrition counseling and 
food assistance, if necessary;
    (ii) Health promotion and treatment, including medical and dental 
examinations on a schedule deemed appropriate by the attending health 
care providers as early in the pregnancy as possible; and
    (iii) Mental health interventions and follow-up, including substance 
abuse prevention and treatment services, as needed.
    (2) Grantee and delegate agencies must provide pregnant women and 
other family members, as appropriate, with prenatal education on fetal 
development (including risks from smoking and alcohol), labor and 
delivery, and postpartum recovery (including maternal depression).
    (3) Grantee and delegate agencies must provide information on the 
benefits of breast feeding to all pregnant and nursing mothers. For 
those who choose to breast feed in center-based programs, arrangements 
must be provided as necessary.
    (d) Parent involvement--general. (1) In addition to involving 
parents in program policy-making and operations (see 45 CFR 1304.50), 
grantee and delegate agencies must provide parent involvement and 
education activities that are responsive to the ongoing and expressed 
needs of the parents, both as individuals and as members of a group. 
Other community agencies should be encouraged to assist in the planning 
and implementation of such programs.
    (2) Early Head Start and Head Start settings must be open to parents 
during all program hours. Parents must be welcomed as visitors and 
encouraged to observe children as often as possible and to participate 
with children in group activities. The participation of parents in any 
program activity must be voluntary, and must not be required as a 
condition of the child's enrollment.
    (3) Grantee and delegate agencies must provide parents with 
opportunities to participate in the program as employees or volunteers 
(see 45 CFR 1304.52(b)(3) for additional requirements about hiring 
parents).
    (e) Parent involvement in child development and education. (1) 
Grantee and delegate agencies must provide opportunities to include 
parents in the development of the program's curriculum and approach to 
child development and education (see 45 CFR 1304.3(a)(5) for a 
definition of curriculum).
    (2) Grantees and delegate agencies operating home-based program 
options must build upon the principles of adult learning to assist, 
encourage, and support parents as they foster the growth and development 
of their children.
    (3) Grantee and delegate agencies must provide opportunities for 
parents to enhance their parenting skills, knowledge, and understanding 
of the educational and developmental needs

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and activities of their children and to share concerns about their 
children with program staff (see 45 CFR 1304.21 for additional 
requirements related to parent involvement).
    (4) Grantee and delegate agencies must provide, either directly or 
through referrals to other local agencies, opportunities for children 
and families to participate in family literacy services by:
    (i) Increasing family access to materials, services, and activities 
essential to family literacy development; and
    (ii) Assisting parents as adult learners to recognize and address 
their own literacy goals.
    (5) In addition to the two home visits, teachers in center-based 
programs must conduct staff-parent conferences, as needed, but no less 
than two per program year, to enhance the knowledge and understanding of 
both staff and parents of the educational and developmental progress and 
activities of children in the program (see 45 CFR 1304.21(a)(2)(iii) and 
45 CFR 1304.40(i) for additional requirements about staff-parent 
conferences and home visits).
    (f) Parent involvement in health, nutrition, and mental health 
education. (1) Grantee and delegate agencies must provide medical, 
dental, nutrition, and mental health education programs for program 
staff, parents, and families.
    (2) Grantee and delegate agencies must ensure that, at a minimum, 
the medical and dental health education program:
    (i) Assists parents in understanding how to enroll and participate 
in a system of ongoing family health care.
    (ii) Encourages parents to become active partners in their 
children's medical and dental health care process and to accompany their 
child to medical and dental examinations and appointments; and
    (iii) Provides parents with the opportunity to learn the principles 
of preventive medical and dental health, emergency first-aid, 
occupational and environmental hazards, and safety practices for use in 
the classroom and in the home. In addition to information on general 
topics (e.g., maternal and child health and the prevention of Sudden 
Infant Death Syndrome), information specific to the health needs of 
individual children must also be made available to the extent possible.
    (3) Grantee and delegate agencies must ensure that the nutrition 
education program includes, at a minimum:
    (i) Nutrition education in the selection and preparation of foods to 
meet family needs and in the management of food budgets; and
    (ii) Parent discussions with program staff about the nutritional 
status of their child.
    (4) Grantee and delegate agencies must ensure that the mental health 
education program provides, at a minimum (see 45 CFR 1304.24 for issues 
related to mental health education):
    (i) A variety of group opportunities for parents and program staff 
to identify and discuss issues related to child mental health;
    (ii) Individual opportunities for parents to discuss mental health 
issues related to their child and family with program staff; and
    (iii) The active involvement of parents in planning and implementing 
any mental health interventions for their children.
    (g) Parent involvement in community advocacy. (1) Grantee and 
delegate agencies must:
    (i) Support and encourage parents to influence the character and 
goals of community services in order to make them more responsive to 
their interests and needs; and
    (ii) Establish procedures to provide families with comprehensive 
information about community resources (see 45 CFR 1304.41(a)(2) for 
additional requirements).
    (2) Parents must be provided regular opportunities to work together, 
and with other community members, on activities that they have helped 
develop and in which they have expressed an interest.
    (h) Parent involvement in transition activities. (1) Grantee and 
delegate agencies must assist parents in becoming their children's 
advocate as they transition both into Early Head Start or Head Start 
from the home or other child care setting, and from Head Start to 
elementary school, a Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education

[[Page 132]]

Act preschool program, or a child care setting.
    (2) Staff must work to prepare parents to become their children's 
advocate through transition periods by providing that, at a minimum, a 
staff-parent meeting is held toward the end of the child's participation 
in the program to enable parents to understand the child's progress 
while enrolled in Early Head Start or Head Start.
    (3) To promote the continued involvement of Head Start parents in 
the education and development of their children upon transition to 
school, grantee and delegate agencies must:
    (i) Provide education and training to parents to prepare them to 
exercise their rights and responsibilities concerning the education of 
their children in the school setting; and
    (ii) Assist parents to communicate with teachers and other school 
personnel so that parents can participate in decisions related to their 
children's education.
    (4) See 45 CFR 1304.41(c) for additional standards related to 
children's transition to and from Early Head Start or Head Start.
    (i) Parent involvement in home visits. (1) Grantee and delegate 
agencies must not require that parents permit home visits as a condition 
of the child's participation in Early Head Start or Head Start center-
based program options. Every effort must be made to explain the 
advantages of home visits to the parents.
    (2) The child's teacher in center-based programs must make no less 
than two home visits per program year to the home of each enrolled 
child, unless the parents expressly forbid such visits, in accordance 
with the requirements of 45 CFR 1306.32(b)(8). Other staff working with 
the family must make or join home visits, as appropriate.
    (3) Grantee and delegate agencies must schedule home visits at times 
that are mutually convenient for the parents or primary caregivers and 
staff.
    (4) In cases where parents whose children are enrolled in the 
center-based program option ask that the home visits be conducted 
outside the home, or in cases where a visit to the home presents 
significant safety hazards for staff, the home visit may take place at 
an Early Head Start or Head Start site or at another safe location that 
affords privacy. Home visits in home-based program options must be 
conducted in the family's home. (See 45 CFR 1306.33 regarding the home-
based program option.)
    (5) In addition, grantee and delegate agencies operating home-based 
program options must meet the requirements of 45 CFR 1306.33(a)(1) 
regarding home visits.
    (6) Grantee and delegate agencies serving infants and toddlers must 
arrange for health staff to visit each newborn within two weeks after 
the infant's birth to ensure the well-being of both the mother and the 
child.

(The information and collection requirements are approved by the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) under OMB Control Number 0970-0148 for 
paragraph (a).

[61 FR 57210, Nov. 5, 1996, as amended at 63 FR 2313, 2314, Jan. 15, 
1998]