My Role as an Advocate

        I started advocating for children and families when I noticed the level of quality that children were receiving varied across the board.  Some teachers really went out of their way to ensure that children received the best early education experiences, others just showed up for the pay check.  The teachers that were more vested in their classroom, children and the curriculum had more knowledge of child development and an understanding of the issues that children and families face.  They were passionate, attentive and wanted to see children get the most out of their experiences.  They knew how to focus on the individual child as well as the classroom as a whole to scaffold learning and assess how and if children were progressing.  This is the type of teacher that I was and I expect no less from those who work in the field.  Knowing the level of differences in the quality that teachers provide, I want to find a way to ensure that teachers understand the needs of the children and families they serve and know how to connect families to the child’s educational experiences. 

                Advocacy can be an extensive process.  It starts with one person who wants to implement change to benefit children and families in their environment.  This can lead to understanding how services can impact children and families in a broader context.  It is important to acknowledge all efforts to improve the quality of services for children and families because not every issue is known to the public.  To be a community leader on early childhood issues, you have to have knowledge of the issues and want to initiate change for children and families.  Having passion and commitment about early childhood issues is also essential.  Becoming educated on the issue, researching the issues and being a part of a community to want to elicit change is what it takes to be a community leader.

                In order to be a state leader on early childhood issues, it takes being elected by the public “to represent the ideas and interests of their communities; therefore the public has the right and the responsibility not only to know their elected officials’ position on pending policy legislation but also to communicate their ideas, therefore influencing the way they are represented” (Kieff, 2009).  Money is the main resource that a state leader needs to advocate for issues in the community and is in a position to pool other resources and work with organizations to bring light to early education concerns.  Helping others understand the importance of these issues by passing on information and having real life situations that people can relate to helps others get involved.  Understanding the concerns of stakeholders and being able to connect the concerns to the appropriate individuals. 

                Building relationships to connect with others who have the same passion and establishing strong open communication with those involved in the advocacy efforts.  It is important that the messages are the same between advocates and so everyone is on the same page and makes the message that much stronger when it is supported by everyone involved!

Personal Advocacy Reflection

I was a preschool teacher for 12 years and a teacher for the agency for which I am currently employed for 5.  After going through some personal life changes, I decided to apply for an adminstrative position with the agency.  To my surprise and delight I got the job.  When I became a family educator, I struggled with delivering the material so that parents were interested and excited about being in my class.  My supervisor pushed me to do more by believing that I had what it takes.  She helped me set personal goals for myself as well as for my work as a facilitator.  She advocated that our children and families deserved that best services that we could deliver and saw how I could use my background as a preschool teacher to help parents understand the roles they play in their children's lives.  She pushed me to be more responsive, more personable and helped me understand how to challenge the parents to do things that are possible for them but also different from what they've been doing.  She helped me see my role in their lives and encouraged me to keep setting goals for myself.  She's encouraged me to take trainings, continue with school and further my career by asking what I want for myself and for the children and families I serve.  She sets examples by her leadership, persistance, and loving nature to see our team grow and excel.  She often says that she has a hard time letting her brain shut down from thinking of how we can best serve our clients, even when she goes home!  I've never had a supervisor who puts so much faith and strength into her staff and believes whole heartedly in giving our families the best of the best.  This has fueled me to keep striving to learn all that I can, be self motivated to bring my own style to my work and become as resourceful to families as I possibly can. 

Advocacy In Action

My name is Charlene Montgomery and I was a preschool teacher for twelve years.  I received a promotion with the agency I have worked for since 2004 in August of 2010.  I am currently a parent educator for the same agency and thoroughly enjoy my job.  I advocate for parents everyday by collaborating their success with other members of my team, going to trainings to enhance my facilitators skills and gain updated information on how to provide effective services for the children and families I serve.  I plan the groups using a specified curricula and work hard to help parents understand and learn new ways of communication with others and their children, address stress and anger issues and learn child development and positive discipline strategies.  This job is very challenging and is constantly teaching me new things about myself and pushing me to do more and do better to help decrease instances of child abuse for children.

Reflection

I've learned that there is a breakdown in the cohesiveness of early childhood systems.  There needs to me more people involved who understand the develpment of children.  Another point I learned was that the policies in place do not completely reflect the needs of children and families.   Early childhood systems are important so that children are receiving the care and education they need to succeed in school and in life.  Parents also need to be involved so that they understand how important their involvement is to their child's development and their education.

My goal is still to open my own child development center.  I want children and families to have such a complete educational experience that when they are ready to enter kindergarten parents are able to further advocate for what their child needs, understand how their children learn and be able to articulate what they know is best for their child. 

My Family

My husband and I just found out the my infant daughter will be born with down's syndrome.  This is our first child and my husband's English is not so good yet.  He was born in Nigeria and we've only been married for two years.  The doctors say they will not know the level of her abilities until she is born but gave us some information and options for services.  They told us to expect poor muscle tone, delayed development, speech delays, some distortion in her features such as slanted eyes, small ears, short neck, and a small head.  They say there are therapists who will be able to help us but there are fees.  My husband works two jobs and I work part time as a waitress so I do not have any benefits, but through my husband's jobs we manage to make ends meet and have a small savings.  I'm not sure where to go for childcare once the baby is born because we need all the money we can get for therapists and services for our child.  I don't think we can afford for me to be a stay at home mom right now.  I was planning on starting school once the baby was in childcare but now I'm not sure I can do that now with all of the financial obligations we will have.  We will need to have early intervention services available through an agency in our state.  From what we have gathered, we will need speech therapists, physical therapists and will work will physicians for any health concerns.  She may have a low resistance to infection and a possible heart defect.  We have more options than we first knew of and have to take them all into consideration for the best outcome for our child.

The Political Will to Improve Early Childhood Systems

One of the strategies that I saw being utilized was the Quality Rating and Improvement Systems also known as the QRIS.  This works towards improving the quality of our early education systems as a whole.  It focuses on improving and supporting the development of children.  The QRIS seeks to emcompass all facets of early childhood edcucation including assessments and monitoring, providing easy consumer understanding of quality eduation settings, aligning program and professional standards, and professional and program supports.  By developing a more comprehensive system for early care programs, this will ensure programs are providing the quality of services they are designed for.  Monitoring all these aspects of early education can give childrne and families that type of services they need in order for their children to be successful in school. 

There is a significant gap in how parents understand quality care and quality care programs.  By providing a more cohesive system of monitoring quality programs, teachers will have the appropriate qualifications and the type of support they need to continue providing high quality educational expriences.  Programs will maintain a level of quality the will ensure families have continuous positive eduacational experiences. 

Parent, Family and Community Engagement

Hearing the parents' stories helped me to really see the value in what I do and how much people believe in early education.  It has become even more important for me to understand and learn how I can inspire parents to advocate for themselves and their children.  Personally, I felt very inspired by how these parents really took advantage of their experiences and turned them into success stories.  It made me want to inspire my own success stories.  Professionally, I was again inspired to continue on my path of completing the Master's program and opening my own child development facility. 

The value of hearing such stories are priceless.  These stories really attest to how head start can achieve what it set out to achieve.  Costing less money in the end for the economy.  These parents accounted how they benefitted from the program and how their children benefited from the program.  How they ended up furthering their education and inspiring their children to do the same.  Policymakers, government officials and even early childhood professinals need to know how Head Start can impact lives, save the economy money, and break the cycle of poverty  when they are provided with the necessary tools, training and opportunities to touch lives.