Learn More About Exchanging Information About Child and Family Supports

Exchanging Information about Child and Family Supports

Family and Child Informal and Formal Supports 

Service coordinators and providers engage in collaborative conversations with families to identify their existing supports and supports a family would like to access. Supports can be informal or formal. Informal supports are those families have or access through their social networks. They might be people who are part of the family (for example, a maternal grandmother or sister), or they might be a friend, neighbor, colleague from work, or members of a faith-based community. Families might access food through a neighbor or get a ride to an appointment from a friend. Formal supports are individuals, organizations, or agencies that provide services or goods (for example, early intervention providers, childcare centers, physicians, social service case managers, food banks, health clinics, family support programs).  

Information about child and family supports is often initially exchanged during their first contacts with Early Steps. This information helps inform the development of child and family IFSP outcomes, 3- and 6-month progress indicators, priority skills, and embedded strategies by helping to identify the people and resources that will support implementation of the family's plan. 

Linking Information About Supports with FL-EPIC 

Information about child and family supports assists providers as they meet with caregivers to identify "WHEN/WHERE/WHO" in the FL-EPIC 5 Question (5Q) Framework. For example, suppose an aunt is a regular source of informal support by caring for the child on weekends. The caregiver may identify her as an informal support who can be part of the family's embedded intervention plan. Service coordinators and providers continue to exchange information with caregivers about their existing and desired informal and formal supports throughout the family's participation in Early Steps as their child learns new skills and the family's priorities, preferences, resources, and supports change over time. 

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Completing an Ecomap 

In addition to recording a family's supports on their IFSP, another way to exchange information about their informal and formal supports is to create an ecomap. The ecomap is a graphic representation or "picture" of the formal and informal supports in a family's life. The ecomap depicts how much support the family reports from each source and the strength of those supports. Ecomaps can be updated over time as families, service coordinators, and providers continue to have conversations about a family's supports as part of FL-EPIC. Creating an ecomap includes several steps: 

1. Define family. Using a blank ecomap, begin by asking the family, "Who would you say is part of your family?" and write the names of these family members in the circle in the center of the page.  

2. Identify informal supports. Next, ask about others connected to the family either because they are related or provide support to the family. Write each informal support in a separate circle above the one containing the family. You might ask open-ended questions to help the family describe their informal supports, such as: 

   • Who is important to your family or your child? 

   • Who do you call on for help? 

   • Can you tell me about the people who help you, other members of your family, or your child? 

   • Can you tell me about how these people help you, other members of your family, or your child? For example, do they give you or your child things or help you or your child get things? What kinds of things do they give you or your child or help you or your child get? 

3. Identify formal supports. Next, ask about formal supports. Remember to ask about the family's formal supports and supports the family might like to use. Write each formal support in a separate circle below the one containing the family. Example questions are listed below. Before asking the questions, you might state, "Many families use community-based resources, services, or people that help them and their child."  

   • Does your family access community-based resources (e.g., food bank), services (childcare), or people (e.g., doctors, teachers) that are helpful for you or your child? 

   • Can you tell me about how these resources, services, or people help you, other members of your family, or your child?  

4. Discuss family perspectives about helpfulness and strength of informal and formal supports. Example questions may include: 

   • How does the [informal support, individual, agency, or organization the family named] help support you? 

   • Are any of the supports we have talked about particularly helpful for you, your family, or your child? 

   • Are any of the supports we have talked about not particularly helpful for you, your family, or your child?  

   • Are any of the supports we have talked about stressful for you, your family, or your child?  

5. Record perspectives about the strength and helpfulness of informal and formal supports on the ecomap. To represent different strengths of support on the ecomap, use solid lines with varying degrees of thickness to connect the informal and formal supports to the family circle. Thick lines represent a great deal of support between the informal or formal support and the family. Slightly thinner lines represent moderate support. The thinnest lines represent individuals, agencies, or organizations identified by the family to be part of their informal or formal network that do not provide much support. If the family identifies a support as stressful, hatch marks can be drawn on the support line. For example, there may be times when a relationship is stressful, but the individual provides significant support to a family member.