Parent and family engagement in early education programs is associated with better developmental outcomes for children. This chapter reviews theory and research on family engagement in early childhood programs, including home visiting, with an eye towards how dual-generation programs and services are delivered to support healthy parenting and enhance child development. We emphasize how publicly-funded school readiness programs serving low-income families, such as Head Start, serve as a key context for reaching parents and families with services that support the development of their children. Evaluations of interventions embedded within Head Start have shown that programs supporting family engagement at home and in preschool have direct benefits for young children; however, longitudinal evidence of impacts is less robust. Taking what we know about family engagement to scale requires a careful consideration of what is known to facilitate such engagement, and what barriers exist to including parents of culturally and linguistically diverse children in these efforts. We conclude our chapter with an examinination of the implications of our findings for policy and practice such as the expansion of affordable early care and education programs, increasing access to culturally sensitive and inclusive parenting programs, and outreach to families via greater integration across early care and education programs, schools, community organizations, and medical/health settings that promote health and well-being of children and families both in the United States and internationally.

Working as co-editors and with our colleagues on this Handbook during the context of the global pandemic of 2019–2020 was certainly unanticipated and unlike any challenges we have ever known. As parents, we gained new appreciation for our research on how parenting shapes child development even as we struggled to use this knowledge within our own homes and lives. Future generations will have to uncover the role of the Covid-19 pandemic on parenting approaches and impacts on children around the globe. For now, we can honestly say we are both relieved and thrilled to share this work with our community of scholars to advance the goals of science and practice.