The Los Angeles team has centered parents and caregivers as experts in their own lives, and as leaders in shaping pediatric care. Through family engagement leader groups, listening sessions, and ongoing collaboration, parents help shape intake conversations, care planning tools, evaluation language, outreach messages, and clinic workflows. Families have made materials more parent-friendly by shifting language and redesigned how programs are introduced, so families feel welcomed rather than overwhelmed.

At this PPC, partnering with families means engaging parents as true co-designers and decision makers, not simply advisors. Family leaders are integrated into all aspects of the work, from shaping interventions and clinical tools to guiding implementation, evaluation, and communication. Parents have co-designed core innovations such as strengths-based care planning embedded in the electronic health record, technology tools that connect families to public benefits, and outreach materials that are clear, accessible, and grounded in real family experience. This partnership is sustained through consistent collaboration and regular cadence, creating space for families and clinicians to think together about what care should look like.

What distinguishes this approach from more traditional forms of parent engagement is the depth and follow-through. Rather than collecting input that remains disconnected from systems change, family partnership at LAPPC is embedded into transformation itself, with clear evidence of impact. This work is grounded in the understanding that parents are the drivers of their children’s health and well-being. Through this partnership, the team has learned that centering families strengthens trust, improves care coordination, and leads to care models that are more responsive, durable, and aligned with what families actually want and need.