Sharing Web Resources

The area of the web site that I primarly focused on was Under Policy Priorities.  I continued to explore this and I clicked on Juvenile Justice.

The link I clicked on talked about Advocate and Family Resources for Juvenile Justice.

ADVOCATE & FAMILY RESOURCES FOR JUVENILE JUSTICE

Creating a level playing field for all children is a mission that CDF cannot accomplish alone. We often work with or refer people to many other organizations nationwide who are working to improve the lives of children. A list of some of them is below.

- See more at: http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/juvenile-justice/juvenile-justice

Than I clicked on Texa Care for Children.

Texans Care for Children Texans Care for Children works to improve the lives of Texas children by building commitment and action for improved public policy and programs. Their issues include: child poverty and family economic security; child and maternal health; children’s mental health; early care and education; child welfare; and at-risk youth and juvenile justice.


Here are the new reports I read.  This was very interesting and informative for me because I live in a town outside of Fort Worth, Texas.  This website gave me more insight in problems of the children in my area and the changing policies for children.

4/15/2014

New Report on Ways to Save Lives in Texas Foster Care

Coinciding with the House Human Services Committee hearing on Foster Care Redesign, Texans Care for Children released a report entitled "Safeguarding Children in Texas Foster Care,” outlining several policy recommendations to keep children safe in the state's foster care system.

4/3/2014

Report on DFW Child Care Shows Challenges Facing State’s Littlest Learners

Working families in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area face substantial challenges in finding high quality, affordable child care that fits their scheduling needs, according to a new report by Texans Care for Children.

2/18/2014

State Leaders Must Take Action on Tasers in Schools

Texans Care for Children and other organizations are calling on state leaders to ban the use of Tasers and pepper spray in schools.

10/22/2013

Most Child Victims of Human Trafficking Were in Foster Care First A hearing before members of Congress looks into what the child welfare system can do. I clicked on some of outside links and this is where it lead me to.  I clicked on an article for Invest Early in All Our Children.  This article was in The National Journal. Some of the issues that were in this articles are:  More than one in four children under age 5—nearly 5 million—were poor in 2012; and nearly half were extremely poor, living in a family of four with an income of less than $11,925 per year; In 2011, more than 1 million children ages birth through 5 were identified as having disabilities or developmental delays, and were served by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; During the 2011-2012 school year, children learning English as a second language represented 12 percent of children in public school preschool programs; More than one in three of the almost 400,000 children in foster care in FY2012 were under the age of 6. Children with special needs often bring a wide range of physical and emotional challenges to early childhood programs. Sometimes their families lack basic essentials, including food, housing, and medical care. Some children may have unmet health and mental health needs due to increased exposure to violence, abuse, and neglect—and the stress that accompanies them. Others may need little extra help. The good news is that we now have abundant evidence that high-quality early childhood experiences can buffer the impact of challenges some children face and promote positive short and long-term outcomes. According to a 2013 report released by the Society for Research in Child Development and the Foundation for Child Development, while all children benefit from high-quality programs, children from low-income households, those with other special needs, and children learning English as a second language have the potential to benefit more. The report highlighted evidence from public preschool programs in Boston and Tulsa, Okla., as well as the federally funded Head Start program. Yes this website did add to my understanding of equity and excellence in early care and eduction.  This article talks about the how important early childhood is for children.  It also talked about the children that are at risked. A national commitment to a high-quality early childhood experience for every child must mean a targeted commitment for individual young children with different special needs. There must be training and other supports for staff working in early childhood classrooms so they can reach children suffering the stresses of trauma in their daily lives. There must be comprehensive services so no child enters a classroom distracted by hunger, sickness, or pain. Children in foster care, often victimized by abuse or neglect, and children who are homeless may need extra supports to ensure they do not slip between the cracks and miss the benefits of early child development and learning. Children with disabilities and those who are at risk of developing them need consistent access to early intervention services as they move through the continuum of early child hood programs. Parents and other caregivers must also be engaged as active partners in their children's early development and learning, and extra support should be offered parents when they need it. The Strong Start for America's Children Act recognizes that this is all necessary if we truly want to promote equal opportunity for all children and build a stronger society. All our children have it in themselves to be extraordinary. With supports, young children born into extreme poverty today and without consistent access to adequate health care or nutrition can become the nurses and doctors who will care for our children and grandchildren tomorrow. Infants and toddlers living in homeless shelters or in foster care can become the engineers and astronauts who race to the heavens and take humankind to places beyond our wildest imaginings. The Strong Start for America's Children Act really showed me insight about issues and trends in early childhood field.  This is the Strong Start for America's Children Act:

January 2014 

 

Strong Start For America’s 

Children Act (S. 1697/H.R. 3461) 

Offers New Hope For Children Birth Through Five 

 

High quality early childhood development and learning interventions serve as a buffer to the negative 

effects of poverty and provide a foundation for future success with lifelong benefits, particularly for the 

poorest and most vulnerable children. Studies have shown that children who benefit from high quality 

early childhood investments are more likely to graduate from high school, hold a job, and make more 

money and less likely to commit a crime than their peers who do not participate.1

 Nobel Prize-winning 

economist James Heckman estimates a lifelong economic rate of return of 7 to 10 percent per year 

per dollar invested.2

 Investing in quality early childhood development and learning is an effective 

poverty prevention strategy. 

The Strong Start for America’s Children Act encourages expansions of support for high quality 

home visiting programs, Early Head Start, Head Start, child care, pre-kindergarten (pre-K) and 

quality kindergarten programs to reach poor and low income children birth through age 5. 

 

The Act offers federal support for a range of high quality early childhood learning and 

development initiatives: 

 Guaranteed support for Pre-Kindergarten Access Grants for quality pre-kindergarten programs 

for 4-year-olds in families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), which may be 

provided by local education agencies, community-based early childhood education providers 

(such as Head Start and child care programs) or a consortium of the two. Twenty percent of the 

funds awarded in the first four years may be used for quality improvements to support high quality 

pre-K programs. Up to 15 percent of the funds may be used to provide high quality early childhood 

education programs for infants and toddlers in families at or below 200 percent FPL. 

 Competitive Pre-Kindergarten Development Grants to help states put high quality standards in 

place so they can, within three years, apply for the new Pre-Kindergarten Access Grants. 

 Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships to help child care centers and family care homes 

improve the quality of their services for infants and toddlers and children through age 3 so that 

they can meet Early Head Start performance standards within three years. 

 Improvements in the Child Care and Development Block Grant to strengthen the quality of 

child care, promote 12 months of continuous care for children and families and establish new 

demonstration and pilot programs to support low income families needing or receiving child care. 

 Encourages continued funding for the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting 

Program that offers voluntary evidence-based home visiting programs for young children and their 

families to promote maternal and child health, improve school readiness, prevent child abuse and 

neglect, support family economic self-sufficiency, reduce crime and delinquency and support 

community resources.  Encourages transition and increases access to high quality kindergarten, with special attention to 

full-day kindergarten. 

The Act promotes quality care for poor and low-income children, including those with special 

needs. Funded pre-K programs must: 

 Meet high quality benchmarks. 

 Serve 4-year-olds or 3- and 4-year-olds 

 Require high staff qualifications, including a bachelor’s degree in early childhood or a 

related field 

 Provide high quality professional development for all staff 

 Offer salaries comparable to K-12 teacher salaries 

 Meet evidence-based maximum class sizes and child-staff ratios 

 Offer “full day” pre-K 

 Provide developmentally appropriate evidence-based curricula and learning environments 

aligned with the state’s early learning and development standards 

 Provide accessible comprehensive services for children 

 Provide for ongoing monitoring and program evaluation to ensure continuous improvement 

 Reach out to children in poor and low income families. States must report annually on 

progress in providing access to high quality pre-K for children in families with incomes up to and 

including 200 percent FPL, including the percent of funds spent on children under 100 percent, 

between 100 and 150 percent and between 150 and 200 percent. 

 Promote partnerships for a mixed service delivery system that engages local education 

agencies and community-based early childhood education programs. 

 Perform outreach to homeless children, dual language learners, children in foster care, children 

with disabilities and migrant children to engage them in high quality pre-K programs. 

 Promote family support and parent engagement and assess with parents, community 

members and organizations a coordinated system to facilitate referrals and provision of services 

related to health, nutrition, mental health, disabilities and family support for children enrolled. 

 Encourage coordination, access and transition to high quality kindergarten. 

This act really summarized what I have been learning in my this class.