When facilitated in culturally relevant and community-based ways, family support and engagement can serve as a protective factor for youth wellbeing. This factsheet outlines a shift in practice to approaches that are reflective of social and economic contexts, and that centre empathy and cultural humility, supporting inclusive, equitable, intentional, and meaningful engagement with families. This framework has been adapted to engage equity-deserving families of various cultures, experiences, and intersecting identities.

Adapted from The Black Family: Re-imagining Family Support and Engagement (2013) by Iheoma U. Iruka, in Being Black is Not a Risk Factor: A Strengths-Based Look at the State of the Black Child (pp. 18-23), National Black Child Development Institute, and in consultation with Carol Wade, MSW, PhD.