Engaging Family Advisors

Family engagement is an integral approach to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of health care that is grounded in mutually beneficial partnerships among health care providers, patients, and families.

Pediatricians often talk with their patients about social drivers of health, infant and child mental health, and other complex and chronic health care needs. These conversations can be sensitive and raise questions around confidentiality, community referral services, health equity, and more. Family advisors can help practices address the best way these questions can be posed to families and develop solutions together. Additionally, their experiences and expertise make them the perfect partners to bridge the gap between community and clinical services.

Browse the resources on this page for information on how to engage family advisors in your practice.

Best Practices for Identifying, Engaging and Sustaining Family Advisors
This guide, developed from participants of the Addressing Social Health and Early Childhood Wellness (ASHEW) grant , includes a wide variety of information to help practices engage family advisors in their work.

The guide includes the following information:

• What are family advisors
• Benefits of engaging family advisors
• How to overcome common obstacles
• Success stories
• Sample job descriptions for family advisors
• Sample promotional material for recruiting family advisors
• Sample mission statement
• Examples of tasks for family advisors
• A step-by-step guide to identify, engage, and sustain family advisors

Watch this short video on engaging family advisors in your pediatric practice and then, using the links below, review the 3 steps in the family advisor guide along with the additional resources.

• Step 1: Develop Infrastructure for Supporting Family Advisors
• Step 2: Select Family Advisors
• Step 3: Ensure Success with Your Family Advisors

Family Advisor Success Stories
Three success stories of engaging family advisors that were gathered during the ASHEW grant. The areas of success include: (1) creating a family advisor panel, (2) bridging the gap between the practice and community partners, and (3) improving the screening process.

Common Obstacles of Family Advisor Engagement and Strategies to Overcome Them
Participants of the ASHEW grant shared a variety of obstacles while engaging family advisors and strategies to overcome them to ensure success.

Family Advisor Job Description Quality Improvement
Template of a family advisor job description with a focus on quality improvement. The information is this job description is meant to be edited and tailored to the needs and expertise of your family advisor(s) and your practice.

Family Advisor Job Description Community Partnership
Template of a family advisor job description with a focus on creating community partnerships. The information is this job description is meant to be edited and tailored to the needs and expertise of your family advisor(s) and your practice.

Examples of Tasks for Family Advisors
Unsure of what tasks family advisors can do to help your practice? Review this document that lists examples of family advisor tasks ranging from beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Connect with the AAP FamilYPartner Network
The AAP FamilY Partnerships Network (FPN) promotes patient- and family-centered care in pediatric healthcare by representing family and youth perspectives and supporting ongoing youth and family involvement at the local, state and national level within the AAP and with other stakeholders.