Baby face qualitative Evaluation

Parents’ expectations 
In seven sites, nine parent educators noted that parents had unrealistic expectations of the 
program that hindered enrollment and retention. Parents were expecting a program where the 
parent educator or “teacher” would do an activity with the child and were not interested or 
expecting a program in which they had to interact.
Some families would rather see me come into the home to do the activity with the child. I explain I 
am there to show them and to watch them interact. 
When the parents just don’t want to be involved, I have to say to them that I am not the teacher; 
they are their child’s teacher, and I am just there to help them. 
Parents expect one-on-one with me and the child. I remind them that it is parents as teachers, how 
to get to know your child more. When they realize they have to do it, they hesitate. They say they 
thought it was something you do for us. I tell them no, that they do the activity, and if they have 
difficulty, we intervene. The hard part is when they don’t want to do it themselves.

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Baby FACE 
Wilder Research, January 2015 
 
Qualitative Evaluation 
12 
Outreach and recruitment
Both parent educators and supervisors at Baby FACE sites were asked about strategies that were 
most successful and challenges to getting families to enroll, as well as how they attempted to 
enroll evaluation families (those with babies born in 2011 and early 2012) that were not 
interested in participating. Many of these strategies and challenges are noted in the section above 
on overarching strategies and challenges; those that are unique to outreach, recruitment, and 
enrollment are noted here. Parents were also asked about their “reasons for participating in the 
program.” Results are reported in order of the frequency with which it was mentioned, though it 
may have been a common strategy used by other sites, but simply not mentioned.