Family Leadership: The concept is catching on!

I’m on a writing roll today, but I have so much to say that I can’t help myself!

As I mentioned in another posting, Jackie and I were at the CACL Annual Conference this past weekend. One of the main items for discussion and development at the conference was “Family Leadership“.

“Wow! That’s great” I thought. When I first became a Parent Consultant over 12 years ago, the term for parent leadership was primarily “parent advocates”, used to describe parents who would speak up for their sons or daughters, who would go into battle if needed and simply, parents who would advocate on behalf of their children or other families. Parent to parent groups were very much about “speaking up” so that our sons and daughters would have a better quality of life and so that they would have a place in society like everyone else.

We at Ensemble have always believed in family leadership. Rarely did we ever use the term advocacy, not because we didn’t believe in the importance of it but because we wanted to make sure that our contributions toward a good life for our children were recognized at the same level as leaders in education, social services and health care. We wanted to be viewed as colleagues and partners who shared a very positive relationship with our community.

We believe that a trusting relationship leads to the best outcomes for our sons and daughters. Working alongside professionals is somewhat of “in house lobbying” where you understand each others perspective and try to find a balance among all points of view. Family Leadership puts us on the same level with regard to decision making. It means we can work together and have influence.

I am so excited to see that others are starting to use the term family leadership. I hope that we have created some of the inspiration toward this movement. As a leader in family leadership, I look forward to connecting with other families and being part of the ride!