E Center Family Services Team | Head Start Yuba City

Most families know about the teachers. They know about the curriculum, the health screenings, the free meals. But there’s another group of E Center staff that families consistently say made the biggest difference in their lives — and they don’t work in the classroom.

They’re our Equipo de Servicios Familiares.

What Family Services Actually Does

Every family enrolled at E Center is assigned a dedicated Family Services staff member — someone whose job is to know your family, understand your goals and challenges, and connect you with the support you need.

Family Services work looks different for every family, because every family’s situation is different. But the core of what they do includes:

Partnership Planning

At the start of the program year, your Family Services worker meets with your family for a partnership meeting — a conversation about where you are and where you want to go. Together, you set goals: maybe it’s completing a GED, finding stable housing, getting a car, improving your family’s financial situation. Your Family Services worker helps you identify steps, find resources, and track progress over the year.

This isn’t a check-in form. It’s a genuine collaborative process designed around what your family needs.

Resource Connection

Yuba and Sutter Counties have a network of community resources that many families don’t know about: emergency food programs, rental assistance, utility bill support, healthcare navigation, job training, legal aid, immigration services, mental health support, domestic violence resources, and more.

Family Services staff know this landscape deeply. They can connect you to the right resource — and more importantly, they can help you navigate it, advocate for you if needed, and follow up to make sure the connection was made.

For families in crisis, this knowledge can be genuinely life-changing.

Home Visits

For families in home-based programs (and for all families in certain cases), Family Services staff make regular home visits. These visits extend the partnership into the family’s home environment, allow workers to understand the family’s real context, and create opportunities for coaching and support that aren’t possible in a brief phone call.

Crisis Support

Life is unpredictable. Families face unexpected job loss, health crises, relationship breakdowns, housing instability. When enrolled families hit a rough patch, their Family Services worker is a steady, knowledgeable point of contact who can help them find footing.

E Center’s Family Services staff are not caseworkers in a bureaucratic sense. They are community members who genuinely care about the families they serve — and who have the knowledge and connections to back that care with real help.

Parent Involvement and Leadership

Head Start is unusual among early childhood programs in its deep commitment to parent involvement. This includes opportunities for parents to:

Volunteer in the classroom — participating in activities, field trips, and program events
Attend parent workshops and education events — on topics ranging from child development to nutrition to financial literacy
Join the Policy Council — the parent-led governance body that provides input on E Center’s program policies, budgets, and planning

Family Services staff coordinate and support parent engagement throughout the year. The parents who engage most deeply in E Center’s program often describe it as transformative — not just for their children, but for themselves.

The Philosophy Behind Family Services

Head Start’s founder, Sargent Shriver, understood something in 1965 that research has continued to confirm: you cannot fully serve a child without serving the whole family.

A child whose family is in housing crisis cannot focus in a classroom. A parent who is exhausted, isolated, or struggling cannot be the partner in their child’s education that they want to be. A family that has no connection to community resources remains vulnerable in ways that classroom quality alone cannot address.

Family Services exists because E Center believes that the best outcomes for children happen when their families are stable, supported, and empowered. That’s not a soft add-on to the program. It’s central to what makes Head Start different from any other preschool option.

What Families Say About Family Services

“My Family Services worker helped me sign up for CalFresh, find a pediatrician for my kids, and enroll in a community college class. All in the same year. I never would have navigated all that on my own.”

“When we had a housing emergency, she called me back within an hour and had three options for us to look into. That’s not her job description — that’s her character.”

“I felt like someone was actually on my side.”

You Don’t Have to Figure It Out Alone

One of the most consistent things we hear from families who finally connect with E Center is: “I wish I had done this sooner.”

If your child is ages 0–5 in Yuba or Sutter County, you don’t have to navigate early childhood, healthcare, community resources, or parenting challenges in isolation. E Center’s Family Services team is here for you — as part of a completely free program for qualifying families.

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At E Center, your family is the program.

Preguntas frecuentes

Is Family Services mandatory for enrolled families? Family partnership activities are an expected part of Head Start participation, but they’re designed to be collaborative and supportive — not punitive. You work together on goals that matter to your family.

Is what I share with my Family Services worker confidential? Yes. Family Services staff maintain confidentiality consistent with Head Start regulations and applicable law. Information shared in partnership meetings is not shared without your consent.

What if my family is in a crisis right now? Contact us immediately. E Center’s Family Services team is experienced in connecting families with emergency resources for housing, food, healthcare, and safety. You do not need to be enrolled to make an initial call.

Does Family Services require extra appointments or time commitment? Partnership meetings are typically scheduled during times that work for your family’s schedule. Home visits are coordinated in advance. The time investment is meaningful, but it’s designed to be manageable.

E Center is the Head Start and Early Head Start provider for Yuba and Sutter Counties. Family Services support is available to all enrolled families at no cost.