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Learnings from Bank Street: A new report from Bank Street College of Education suggests that early childhood educators should be coached and mentored, just like medical residents, and they should be paid more. The report also states that public-private partnerships could go a long way in funding this model. Much of the recommendations in the report are informed by the work of the New York-based Bank Street College of Education’s Family Center, which provides child-centered, developmentally appropriate, and culturally sensitive services and support children 6 months to 5 years. The Wall Street Journal covered the report, with their provocatively titled piece, “Some Dog Walkers Earn More Than Caregivers for Babies. Educators Want to Change That,” and focused on the importance of quality teaching for children in their first years of life. The report was released as a convening at the Carnegie Corporation of New York on Monday. Carnegie was the primary funder of the report.
Related article: CNBC: Parents are spending $42 billion on early child care — that’s more than federal and state spending combined
Partnerships That Work: A new policy brief that examines the successes and lessons of implementing the Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP) program was released by the Ounce of Prevention Fund (the Ounce) this week. In 2014 Congress appropriated $500 million to expand access to Early Head-Start programs, which included the creation of the EHS-CCP. Under the program Early Head Start providers who partner with local child care providers are awarded competitive grants. After interviewing the people who supported implementation of EHS-CHP in their states, researchers found that the program helped empower local community day care providers to improve the overall quality of care; provided pathways for early childhood professionals to develop new skills; and allowed states to leverage funding sources to support local providers. The brief also included policy recommendations for expanding the partnership program, including codifying the partnerships, permanently authorizing the partnerships and providing additional funding. The First Five Years Fund summarized the report.
Child Care for the Disabled: America’s child care crisis disproportionately affects children with disabilities according to a new analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP). After examining the qualitative data from two national surveys as well as data from interviews conducted with a diverse sample of parents across the U.S., researchers found that families with children under 5 that have a disability face significant obstacles when it comes to finding appropriate child care arrangements, with some not able to find care at all. According to the findings, parents with disabled children rely on “patching together” help from extended family, child care centers, special education preschools, nurses and home aides, and often make significant changes to their jobs to provide care. This makes them three times more likely to experience job disruptions when compared to parents with non-disabled children.
Disabled children –– making up an estimated 15% of the U.S children population –– are protected by civil rights laws that guarantee them free, public education and early intervention services. These programs were not designed with working parents in mind however. Child care centers are legally obligated to make “reasonable modifications” to accommodate disabled individuals, but with already limited funding, disabled children are often excluded from centers. CAP offers several policy recommendations, including passing the Child Care for Working Families Act (which would require states to use resources to expand inclusive child care options), adequately funding Individuals with Disabilities Act, fully enforcing civil rights law and bolstering parent caregiving through work-family policies.
Related article: New York Times Parenting: How Early Intervention Changed My Son’s Life
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Understanding Postpartum: Continuing her reporting on women’s mental health, this week NPR health correspondent Rhitu Chatterjee partnered with NPR’s Life Kit to do a 24-mintue piece focused on postpartum depression, “recognizing the signs and getting help.” Despite the common nature of the condition, there are still a lot of misconceptions says Chatterjee. To help shed light, she compiled five things all people –– including spouses, children and friends –– should know about perinatal depression. First is, don’t blame yourself. According to more than 300 women who wrote it to NPR, many blame themselves for what they’re experiencing -– but psychiatrist and director of Women's Mood Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins University Jennifer Payne stresses that postpartum depression is simply a complication from childbirth like any other, and that it should never be thought of as a personal failing. Additional tips include know the symptoms to look for, ask for help, and build self-care into your routine. Chaterjee also interviewed comedian and postpartum advocate Angela Spicer about her experience with the condition.
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Passing Grades: Childhood advocacy organization Children Now released their popular “California Children’s Report Card” this week, and once again the state is barely getting a passing grade. Considering the areas of support children need to thrive, such as health, education and family services, as well as child welfare and adolescent services, Children Now gave the state an average of C-. In their coverage of the report, the Public News Service pointed out that the only "A" grade was for kids' health coverage, as only 3% of California children remain uninsured because the state has moved aggressively to cover all kids. Additionally, the state got a "D+" for affordable child care because only 14% of low-income families can get their children into state-subsidized care; and low wages for child care workers has led to a shortage. EdSource also covered the report, focusing on the “F” grade in the category of mental healthcare. “That fact we have such a high percentage of kids saying they’re experiencing chronic sadness and contemplating suicide … ‘startling’ is too mild a word,” said Children Now Executive Director Ted Lempert in the piece.
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Politics and Current Events
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Public Charge: Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Trump Administration's "wealth test for immigrants", known as "public charge," according to multiple news outlets. The 5 to 4 vote, with conservative justices in the majority, could have a huge impact on the immigrant community, including hundreds of thousands of children, many of whom live in “mixed status” households. It is believed that, to preserve an opportunity for citizenship, immigrants receiving public assistance will drop out of those programs, creative a sizable need gap.
Early Edge California, an early childhood advocacy group, issued a statement asserting that the rule will, “lead to greater stress and trauma as well as poorer health and academic outcomes for young children during a critical time in their cognitive development.” In a statement released soon after the ruling, Governor Gavin Newsom said that, “California will continue to fight against these efforts to terrorize immigrant families.” California has pledged to expand benefits to immigrants under Newsom, reports the Fresno Bee. Immigration officials will begin to apply the new rules for any immigration petition dated on or after February 24 according to POLITICO.
Advocacy organization, Protecting Immigrant Families has several updated resources to help families impacted by the rule:
Hearing on Paid Leave: The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on Paid Family Leave Tuesday, to listen to testimonials in support of a nationwide policy. Former “Good Morning America” host Joan Lunden was one of the many who spoke specifically in support of the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY Act) which would provide 12 weeks of partial income for family leave. Funding would come through a payroll tax. The other bills being considered are the New Parent Act, which would allow parents to draw on their social security to fund the time to care for an infant; and The Advancing Support for Working Families Act; which would give families the option of accessing an advance of up to $5,000 of their future. Two op-eds were published the day of the hearing -- one in USA Today and one in The Hill – both supporting the FAMILY Act.
Related article: Bloomberg: The Parental Leave Boomlet in the U.S. Is Leaving Women Behind
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Ask a Reporter: KPCC Early Childhood Reporter Mariana Dale wants to hear your questions about early childhood education and development! KPCC believes in engaging communities to help inform their reporting. To support this effort submit your questions to Mariana here, and retweet her call for questions by clicking on the image above.
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January 31 -- LA County Second District Supervisor Candidate Forum Creating a Bold Vision. 6 p.m., Los Angeles Trade Technical College - LATTC 400 West Washington Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90015. Free, click here to register.
March 9 -- Policy Insights 2020 hosted by the California Budget & Policy Center. 8:30a.m.-4:30p.m., Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel 1230 J Street Sacramento, CA 95814. $155.00 - $205.00, click here to register.
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ICYMI: In Case You Missed It, More Great Reads
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