My Hypothetical Family Situation

My Hypothetical Family Situation

My hypothetical family situation is that I am parent about to adopt a child born with Down syndrome. I have just received the news from the adoption agency and we as a family have decided to be the best parent for this child. My family situation is that I have two other children ages 5 and 10 and need to prepare them to accept this infant. They are excited but have many questions about their new brother who we will call Nathan. My husband travels frequently with his job so he will not be able to assist me on a daily basis with care of our new child. I don’t have any family members at home or close by that can assist with childcare for this new child. I am Hispanic and English is not my first language but I am able to communicate well with others in English and can do some research and ask for assistance.

I have already made some plans to be at home for 12 weeks with my child prior to returning to work and will need to find adequate quality childcare for my special needs infant. My family has limited financial resources and we don’t qualify for any child care assistance, therefore, I will need help finding financial resources and a program that will accept my child. I want my child to be evaluated very early so that he will receive the appropriate care and education as he develops.

I believe that my child will benefit now from early learning program that is prepared and qualified to accept my child in an inclusive environment. What early care program would you recommend for my child? Are there any financial resources that I will be able to receive to assist with the care and education of my child? Are there any special health care support will I need and where can I find it? Can anyone share their personal situation to assist me with this transition to assist my family as a whole deal with this new family situation?

I would like to also know about early intervention and how it works so I started doing some research on Care.com webpage and have found some very interesting information.
“Babies with disabilities are entitled to receive “Early Intervention” services from birth to age 3. Early Intervention is given by a team of experts who help children develop to their maximum ability. The idea is to intervene as soon as possible, while the brain and body are rapidly growing. After age 3, states must provide Special Education services. You can receive services from either public or private sources. Contact your state’s Department of Health or Education to obtain public services. Private services may be covered by health insurance. It is important to know that the Early Intervention program you choose can be changed if you decide a better program is available” (care.com).

Reference

http://www.care.com/special-needs-caring-for-a-child-with-down-syndrome-p1167-q16876.html

The Political Will to Improve Early Childhood Systems

“Today, federal and state government involvement in childcare focuses on regulation and limited economic support. Regulation is provided through the licensing requirements and professional preparation requirements, which are mandated at the federal level and enacted with broad federal guidelines within each state. Local control through the states results in disparity in terms of policies and regulations, and licensing requirements can vary greatly from state to state. Direct support in terms of affordability is primarily extended to the children of families who are living in poverty, although the tax code does allow childcare expenses as a deduction for all families”(Laureate, 2010).

I believe that politics/policy is influencing the early childhood field today because of all the voices from advocates and educators about the need to improve it. As we know, congress sequestered the bill to fund Head Start and early childhood education which created big issues for many federal and state funded programs. Some of these programs had to eliminate classrooms which affected many children, families and teachers around the country. This goes to show that when the politicians cannot get their way they hold out on decisions without considering who is being affected. I strongly believe that we as advocated must continue to work on strategies and documented resources to encourage and educate the politicians and policy makers why funding early childhood education benefits the country as a whole.

I strongly believe in the President’s plan to fund early care because of how it will benefit the children, families, teachers and communities. I believe that if we can get this done in a timely manner there will be many more children who will have the opportunity to attend early care. Policies such as “Race to the Top are touching nearly half the nation’s students and 1.5 million teachers in schools across the country – for an investment that represents less than 1 percent of education spending”(ED.gov). We need to prepared teachers to adequately work with early care to avoid repeating the past history of teachers without the required training and education to care and teach children in early care programs.

I believe that the educational gap should be in the past because we are in the 21st century and function as if we are in the cave man days. There are many organizations such as http://www.toosmalltofail.org that is working to end the gap and prepare children for the future. This organization is new under the Clinton Global Initiative as a “joint initiative of Next Generation and the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, Too Small to Fail aims to help parents, caregivers, educators, communities and businesses take specific, meaningful and evidence-based actions to improve the health and well-being of America’s youngest children, ages zero to five, and prepare them to succeed in the 21st century”(toosmalltofail.org).

There are many strategies that I discovered during this course work that is currently being used by advocates and organization to influence the political will towards improving early childhood system. National Association and Education on Young Children (NAEYC) is an organization that is advocating influencing the political will towards improving early childhood system in order to foster the well-being of young children and their families. For example NAEYC is focused on Professional developments to all “opportunities lead to improvements in the knowledge, skills, practices, and dispositions of early childhood professionals” (NAEYC). Professional development ensures that teachers are prepared and ready to care and educate young children” (NAEYC). Also “The U.S. Department of Education announced $11.5 million in grants to help train educators to improve services and results for children with disabilities” (ED.Gov).

The department of education has also instituted new strategies on how to monitor childcare programs to ensure that children are being educated appropriately. Many states and department of early care agencies have introducing Quality Rating Improvement System(QRS) to monitor improvements “Quality Rating and Improvement System” is being used by state to make strategic improvements in those areas that will most significantly improve program quality and outcomes for Children with High Needs” (Ed.gov).

I believe that federal funding for training and preparation of teachers appeals to me mostly because as a previous owner/director, educated and prepared teachers is key to a high quality early care program. Achieving NAEYC accreditation and Center of Distinction was very hard to accomplish, but with some qualified teachers the process was achieved. I also like the fact that most states are turning to the QRS “Quality Rating and Improvement System “that is being used by states to make strategic improvements in those areas that will most significantly improve program quality and outcomes for Children with High Needs” (Ed.gov). I also like the fact that the department of education will monitor the funding being provided to ensure that every child have the opportunity to attend a high quality program. “As a result of monitoring, ED is able to gather data about State and local needs and use that data to design technical assistance initiatives and national leadership activities” (Ed.gov).

References

Click to access sigmonitoringplan2012-2013.pdf

http://mym.cdn.laureate-
media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6765/02/mm/historical_overview/index.html

http://www.naeyc.org/store/node/544

http://www.toosmalltofail.org