About
The Center is committed to increasing the workforce capacity of family leaders as part of the MCH workforce it is charged with serving. To this aim, the Center established the Family Engagement Team to develop and disseminate resources for family leaders that increase their knowledge related to health reform, improve leadership skills and prepare them to build the capacity of a broad and diverse community of family leaders. The team’s vision is that AMCHP Family Delegates have access to information that will increase their knowledge related to health reform so that they are able to apply their skills and build the capacity of other family leaders.
Start with the MCH Navigator's Family Engagement Learning Brief.
The Family Engagement team currently has the following activities underway:
1. Spring Seminar Series for Title V Professionals and Family Leaders: Health Transformation in MCH
Beginning April 17, 2016, the Center will offer a free, online, eight-week Spring Seminar Series. Designed to meet the needs of Title V professionals and Family Leaders, the Seminar will explore the science and art of health transformation in MCH. Series participants will examine and apply knowledge and skills in the following areas:
- The Affordable Care Act
- MCH Financing
- Assessment of Access to Care
- Applied Implementation
- Leadership
- Quality Improvement
- Systems Thinking
- Sustainability and Reaching Scale
Participants may earn a certificate of completion. To register: http://mchwdc.unc.edu.
2. Resource Development and Dissemination
The Family Engagement Team is adapting existing Center resources for family leaders' use in the four key areas that support health reform implementation. Adapted resources may be accessed via:
3. Action Learning Sets
At the 2015 AMCHP Conference, an Action Learning Set pilot program was launched for family leaders. Action learning uses peer coaching to meet individual leadership challenges as well as develop reflective questioning skills. Approximately 20 AMCHP family leaders participated. The goals were to:
- Provide education and support for family leaders about health reform implementation
- Use peer coaching to enhance family leader capacity
4. The System Support Map
This tool, currently under development by the Center's Systems Integration Core, is designed for families of children and youth with special health care needs to map their interactions with multiple provider systems in an online, customizable format that is user-friendly and easy to modify as needs change. It further allows families to plan for the future, create wish lists and is a living document that adapts to meet a family's needs over time. For more information, email klich@unc.edu.
For information about the Family Engagement Team, please contact Michelle Jarvis: mjarvis@amchp.org.
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Family Engagement Resources
New AMCHP Reports
Family Engagement in Title V Program
How states sustain and diversify engagement to improve quality
Families play a critical role in helping to improve maternal and child health services provided through the federal Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant. AMCHP set out to measure and describe how programs funded by Title V work to sustain and diversify family and consumer engagement, which the block grant requires them to document.
In 2014 and 2015, AMCHP conducted a survey about family engagement policies and practices in Title V maternal and child health and children and youth with special health care needs programs, with funding from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health and the U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau. The findings provide a snapshot of strategies to support meaningful family engagement, effective and innovative practices, and areas of need for improvement and technical assistance.
To link to the AMCHP web page with the reports, click here.
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New Issue Brief
Take a look at AMCHP's new issue brief, "Stories of the Newly Enrolled: How new ACA coverage options are impacting women and families raising children with special health care needs," found here. The publication is the result of a collaborative effort between Family Voices and AMCHP, and shares five stories of families that highlight the opportunities as well as the challenges of receiving ACA coverage.
Adaptive Leadership
Adaptive leadership is a practical leadership framework developed by faculty at Harvard University that helps individuals and organizations adapt and thrive when faced with challenges with no obvious answers.
Adaptive leadership is an important leadership skill to have when leading change, especially when faced with uncertainty and/or resistance. For more information, please contact Dr. Steve Orton, Senior Investigator from the North Carolina Institute for Public Health and Change Management Core-lead for the National MCH Workforce Development Center.
Resources on Adaptive Leadership
For additional resources visit the Harvard Business Review website.
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