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Children and families receive maximum benefits from early childhood programs when families are actively engaged. "Parental involvement" is an established feature of Aboriginal Head Start in Urban and Northern Communities (AHSUNC) in Canada, and there is interest in increasing the knowledge on how AHSUNC sites engage with parents and families. This qualitative study generated knowledge and insights into the nature of family engagement in AHSUNC programs. From May to November 2016, semistructured interviews were undertaken with 26 participants in AHSUNC programs across British Columbia. Participants included parents (n = 10); Elders (n = 6), and AHSUNC program coordinators and family workers (n = 10). Findings illustrate a nuanced, relational, and strengths-based approach to family engagement that included AHSUNC program staff being responsive to the influence of broader social and structural factors on families' everyday lives and program engagement. Findings highlight how family engagement practices in AHSUNC are interdependent and continuous with practices aimed at supporting family well-being. The implications of reframing family engagement from a relational perspective are discussed. These findings have relevancy beyond Indigenous contexts to all early childhood and child health programs that are questioning how to engage with families who experience multifaceted forms of social disadvantage and marginalization.

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In 2016, Canada was ordered to implement Jordan's Principle by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. In response to the order, Canada created the Child First Initiative to provide federal funding for provincial and territorial organizations supporting First Nations children's health, education, and social service needs, including service coordination. In the shifting national landscape of Child First Initiative funding, there is a lack of evidence on how pediatric healthcare services are addressing the serious health and healthcare inequities experienced by many First Nations children. This paper describes the implementation of a Child First Initiative by the First Nations Health Consortium in the Alberta region and research findings that provide insights into the complexity and challenges of advancing First Nations children's health and health equity within the current federal Child First Initiative mandate in this province. This paper highlights the need for transformative pediatric healthcare approaches that expand beyond an individual and demand-driven system and orient towards practices and policies that are sociallyresponsive. Also, this paper highlights that First Nations leaders and Jordan's Principle initiatives play a leading role in the design and delivery of all pediatric healthcare services with First Nations communities, families, and children across Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on key findings of a critical qualitative inquiry undertaken with an Indigenous early child development (ECD) program in Canada, known as the Aboriginal Infant Development Program (AIDP). In depth, semi-structured interviews were used to obtain the perspectives of: Indigenous caregivers and Elders, AIDP workers, and administrative leaders. The findings centre on: (1) a relational perspective of family wellbeing that emphasises the inseparability between child health inequities and the impact of structural social factors on families’ lives, and (2) how AIDP workers’ enact relational accountability to families by: (a) fostering cultural connections; (b) creating networks of belonging and support; (c) responding to caregivers’ self-identified priorities; (d) mitigating racism in healthcare encounters, and (e) deferring an ‘ECD agenda’. Rather than a one-size-fits-all model, these findings illustrate relational approaches to early intervention, characterised by a broader and socially responsive scope of practice and the deferral of a normative ‘ECD agenda’. This study has relevance in a variety of international contexts and to a broad range of disciplines and programs that serve families and children impacted by structural inequities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Perspectives that individualize occupation are poorly aligned with socially responsive and transformative occupation-focused research, education, and practice. Their predominant use in occupational therapy risks the perpetuation, rather than resolution, of occupational inequities. Aim:In this paper, we problematize taken-for-granted individualistic analyses of occupation and illustrate how critical theoretical perspectives can reveal the ways in which structural factors beyond an individual’s immediate control and environment shape occupational possibilities and occupational engagement. Method:Using a critically reflexive approach, we draw on three distinct qualitative research studies to examine the potential of critical theorizing for expanding beyond a reliance on individualistic analyses and practices. Results:Our studies highlight the importance of addressing the socio-historical and political contexts of occupation and demonstrate the contribution of critical perspectives to socially responsive occupational therapy. Conclusion and significance:In expanding beyond individualistic analyses of occupation, critical perspectives advance research and practices towards addressing socio-political mediators of occupational engagement and equity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]