My Own Capacity

Which issues impacting young children and their families and/or the field of early childhood fuel your passion?

One of the major issues impacting young children and their families that has fueled my passion is the lack f people willing to speak up.  I work in a community that is composed of a large amount of illegal immigrants.  Because of their current status, many people feel as though they do not deserve the help and attention that legal citizens do.  I want to open everyone’s eyes about how this is impacting their children and their education.  Many of the families are unaware of how to help their children if they have any educational problems or even health problems.  People write them off as being needy and wanting too much assistance. This has fueled my passion into wanting to help those when others have given up on them.

What resources do you have at your disposal that can benefit your advocacy work?

One resource that I have at my disposal that can benefit my advocacy work is my current access to a wide range of professionals.  I work in a center that has many different people entering.  I work with people who have resources outside of a public setting that better help the children in my class.  The school psychologist knows a great deal of professionals that can help my student with ADHD and the doctor speaks multiple languages helping me communicate with all the families I serve.

In what ways do you hope to grow in order to be a more effective advocate?

One way that I hope to grow in order to be a more effective advocate is strengthening my list of resources.  I want to have information that is relevant to my community on hand at all times in order to better serve them.  Having the list available will help me provide them with fast information and resources about where to go to get the solution to any problems they may be having.

My Role as an Advocate

What motivated you to start advocating for very young children?

I work in a preschool setting and know how hard it is for the parent’s to get the necessary resources for their children.  They don’t feel comfortable reaching out to strangers and being their child’s teacher; I felt it was my job to help them.  What truly motivated me was seeing how difficult of a time the parent’s had when it came to help their children. 

Why is it essential to acknowledge and foster advocacy efforts at the micro as well as the macro level?

It is essential to acknowledge and foster advocacy efforts at the micro level because it affects the people we work with directly.  We will be able to better serve the families we interact with directly by being their voice and helping them get anything that they may need.  It is also essential for the macro level because people from around the world will be able to shed light or offer different suggestions on problems that are occurring.  They could advocate in the other side of the country about strategies that worked somewhere to help other families.  Professionals can work together to advocate everywhere and help families that they may never meet.

What does it take to be a community leader on early childhood issues?

Being a leader in any community can be difficult and challenging.  To be a leader in the early childhood issue the individual must be aware of all the current problems and what is being done to help them.  They must stay current in both the state and country in terms of the issues that are coming up.  The individual must also be aware of what they can do to help the community they serve as well as their colleagues.  They must also be willing to speak up and have their voice heard about issues that see occurring.

What resources does it take to be a state leader on early childhood issues?

The resources that it takes to be a state leader on early childhood issues are people within the community as well as online sources.  By creating a list of people within the field who can help, the individual will know where to send the families for any additional resources that they may need.  Having a list of online sources as well will help anyone stay current and up to date on any new information or issues that may occur.

What tactics or strategies do you use to mobilize others?

One strategy that I utilize to help mobilize others is to ask them to put themselves in the family’s shoes.  Once they start thinking about what the families go through in terms of not speaking the language, not knowing what to do with their child’s education, they begin to realize how much the families need our help.  This helps motivate others to think of and find ways to address the family’s needs.  They would want someone to help them and that is enough to get them started helping others.

What advice would you give to someone who was interested in taking a leadership role in advocating for young children and their families?

Create a list of resources both online and within the community.  Since each community is unique in the needs, it is important to focus on the families that you serve.  Gather as much information as possible about the current struggles the families are dealing with.  This will help make the information ready and available if they approach you with any questions.

Personal Advocacy Reflection

I have seen others around me be a strong advocate for the children in my school.  They stood up for a family who was having a difficult time getting their children the necessary resources for his speech problem.  The social worker walked the family through the process and even took them to the doctor’s appointments.  The family was able to get the services for the child as a result of the social workers hard work and dedication.  The child now receives speech therapy twice a week and has made significant strides.  His family is extremely grateful because they felt that no one was going to help them.

Upon seeing this family’s experience, I decided to explore my own options for advocacy work.  This part in my career I feel it’s important to find as many ways possible to help every child that I come across.  By researching and keeping a list of the websites along with journal articles that I found useful, I am creating a broader spectrum of information helping me reach out to more children and their families.  After seeing the family’s smiles and hearing the child’s speech develop, it gave me the necessary motivation to pursue ways to help more children.  At this stage in my career, I have been able to provide families with information that will help them and their children with things such as housing issues and taking English classes.  Everyone is grateful when someone takes the time to listen to them and provide them with a little bit of assistance to help make their life easier.

When I Reflect About My Collegial, Professional Learning Community

Post at least three consequences of your experience being a part of a caring, collaborative learning community for your professional growth and development. Use any format you choose.

One consequence of being part of a caring, collaborative learning community for my professional growth and development has to learn information about families that I may not want to know.  If I find out a child in my class is having issues at home such as neglect from the parent, it makes it difficult to see past it.  I want to do everything I can to help the child.

Another consequence is not being able to help every child.  I have a few children in my class that need additional resources to help them succeed.  Due to their insurance or the resources being too far, many of them are unable to get the help.  It breaks everyone’s heart who is involved knowing that the child could get everything they need but due to the parent’s financial or transportation issues they cannot get their children there.

The final consequence is that too many people try to get involved.  When there are a lot of people involved, although they all have good intentions, it becomes too much for the family and the child.  They can become overwhelmed with information, especially if everyone is telling them something different.  It may be best for only a few individuals to be informed and understand the situation that a family is in or any problems that they may be having.

Post one goal for using this collegial experience to enhance your advocacy, policy, and/or system development work on behalf of young children, families, and the early childhood community.

One goal that I have to enhance my advocacy, policy and system development work is to become more familiar with the resources that are available in my area.  By doing this, I will be able to provide the families and their children with the information that will help them.  I will also be able to help them find additional services that they might not be aware of.  By advocating for them, I will provide them with a safe person to turn to whenever they have any questions or concerns.

My Hypothetical Family Situation

The family that I created is one containing a father and mother with a baby on the way.  The unborn child will be born with downs syndrome as confirmed by a prenatal test.  My family’s socioecomic situation is a very poor one.  The father is a day laborer and only picks up odd jobs with no steady pay.  I stay at home taking care of the house and resting until the baby is born.  Neither one of us speaks English and struggle even more as a result.  We have little money and struggle to put food on the table and provide ourselves with a home to live in.  The family situation has been impacted by the sociocultural, economic, and politics of the community.  We are living similar to many other families in the community where only one adult works odd jobs and they can barely get by.  It is a result of where we live that many of the families we interact with have the same problems.  The economic status of the town is poor.  There is little money for education for the public schools and funds for the community to help those less fortunate.  The politics in the town is torn. The leaders of the community focus on the other members of the town who are able to provide for their families and focus on other problems such as having multiple children and continuing their education. They do not worry or acknowledge the less fortunate members of the town.

Due to the current financial situation, there is no money for in-home child care.  We are hoping to have help and support from the friends that we have made in the community.  When the baby is born, we will be trying to get my sister to move in with us for additional help.  Another problem is that neither one of us has a driver’s license.  We must rely on taxi’s or friends in order to get around.  This will become a problem when the baby is born and we must attend doctor’s appointments.

The three sectors of comprehensive systems would benefit my child now and in the future.  The health services would inform us of how to care for the child since it will be our first along with any obstacles that will arise due to the downs syndrome.  The early learning and development will keep us informed of what developmental signs to look for and how to help our newborn keep on track with their needs.  The family leadership and support will help inform us and any other people that are able to help with what we need to do to keep our baby help and striving.  It will allow us to stand up as a leader with a child with special needs and how they need additional services.  One of the major early childhood related services that would support me and my family is Early Head Start.  They provide services about how to properly care for children and how to keep on track with doctor’s appointments.  Some will often provide transportation to the appointments to provide extra services.

The Political Will to Improve Early Childhood Systems

Share one or more strategies you have discovered as you worked on the assignments in this course, and particularly this week, that are currently being used by advocates or organizations to influence the political will toward improving early childhood systems in order to foster the well-being of young children and their families.

The one strategy that I saw being utilized is more bills being passed by people of power.  Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania put a bill into act that opens up the opportunity for more children to have access to preschool of higher quality.  This helps improve the early childhood systems in order to foster the wellbeing of young children and their families.  By someone standing up and speaking out about the programs, they are making the public more aware of how important the early childcare programs are.  People who use their power in the positive manner influence others to do the same.

What part of this work appeals to you most and why?

This aspect appeals to me.  I like seeing people of power using it in a positive way.  Too often we hear about political figures using their power to influence people to do what they want rather than what is right for the public.  Having someone like Bon Casey represent the field in a positive way helps shed light on its importance and how the community as well as the families that they need to help their children at an early age.

Parent, Family, and Community Engagement

The professional and personal significance you drew from these stories:
The one story that stood out to me was Tess Dunlap's.  She explained how unaware she was about the Head Start program and all that it did for the children.  Like many of the parent's who have children enrolled, she saw it as nothing more then a daycare.  Tess soon realized how much more it was.  The program helped her overcome family issues regarding alcohol and even gave her the courage to get her bachelor's degree.  This story helped prove that the Head Start programs are much more than a preschool.  They provide the children and the families opportunities that they might not get if they tried on their own.


Your opinion regarding why or why not parent/family involvement is an essential system element for all strands of service in the early childhood field:
Parent/family involvment is extremely important when it comes to sevicing the early childhood field.  Having volunteered in Head Starts, it is obvious which families take the time to help their children succeed and which ones do not.  Having the families and parent's involved shows the children that they care about what they are learning and what they are doing in school.  Parent's are their children's first teachers.  If they do not make the effort to help promote what the teacher's do within the classroom, the children will not be able to get the most out of their experience at the Head Start setting.