Research that Benefits Children and Families

How fun it is to let my imagination run wild! Since I have the means and the knowledge to do so, my research stems from a question about today’s foster care system.

 

Background Information

Below is an excerpt of the pilot program initiated in San Francisco in the light of reforming the foster care system.

“Services to be provided:

RBS is a two-year experiment designed to determine whether better outcomes for children and youth with complex emotional and behavioral needs and their families can be obtained by integrating eight critical service components in one comprehensive package: The 24 month pilot can begin anytime during the Pilot Program time frame ending on January 31, 2016 and will vary per child referred to the Pilot Program.

Behavioral stabilization in a dedicated 6 bed family-centered residential treatment cottage;

Immediate and intensive family inclusion and support through the resources of a Family Connection Center;

Overarching care coordination through a family support team;

Evidence-supported therapeutic services;

Opportunities for interim community placements with parents, relative homes, or treatment or regular foster care;

Parallel community services while a child or youth is in the residential cottage to help families and community partners prepare for the child or youth’s return;

Intensive transitional care services, in-home treatment, and crisis stabilization and services following discharge from the residential cottage. 

The following children and youth are eligible for the program:

Male or female dependent children or youth ages 6 through 16 under the supervision of HSA who are in an RCL level 12 or higher group home, and their families who have behavioral needs that at present cannot be managed in the community using wraparound or other intensive community-based services,

And who have family members or other primary caregivers who are willing to work with the program to help the child or youth achieve permanency, safety and well-being,

But for whom a sustainable permanency plan is unlikely to be accomplished within the next 6 months unless intensive work is done to resolve difficulties in attachment and to address challenges presented by the child or youth’s persistent pattern of dangerous or disruptive behaviors” (Human Services Agency, City of San Francisco, 2011).

 

Rationale:

Children uplifted from their families of origin without being prepared and being assessed, have a greater chance to not perform well in their first foster home, move to another foster home, and often times end up having over 8 foster homes listed on their cumulative file before landing in a group home specialized in intensive care treatment. Children’s original trauma from home has now been multiplied by ten, or exponentially multiplied due to the almost irreversible negative emotional consequences that children develop from thinking they are bad kids because they can’t remain in the families they have been placed in, and feeling guilty about not knowing how to remain in a family. When they qualify for intensive care treatment, several more years of abuse and mistrust have established deep roots.

Since counties follow social science findings that children strive within their birth family, counties’ only goal is to reunite foster children with their birth families. Unfortunately, those birth families receive little help from the government. Consequently, children are encouraged to visit with their families who are not ready to welcome them in optimal conditions.  

Rather than spending money downstream, it would make more sense to dedicate that money upstream, help the families keep their children from the start so foster care does not become a need. Since huge amounts of money are spent on institutions who hire highly specialized staff, the money invested in keeping those families together will be better spent because the only trauma children will know comes from their family of origin, much like everyone of us, each person on planet earth.

 

 

Hypothesis:

Children fare better when they remain in their family of origin, provided those families receive all available services that will help children stay in their original home.

 

 

    

Personal Research Journey

 

When we started the reflection on research, I knew that my deficit would lie on narrowing down a workable research topic. The following is the list of the 3 subtopics I had thought about to respond to this general topic “Improving immigrants’ participation in their children’s school life”:

How is poverty and legal status responsible for a lack of involvement in school?

What can schools and educators do to better understand each of their families’ culture, values, and their relationship with education?

How can schools promote better parent involvement? 

 

Thanks to the professor’s feedback, I understand that questions need to be carefully crafted to reduce the scope of the research, in other words making research possible. According to Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford (2010), reviewing what has already been written on the topic will highlight the question that will develop previous research and benefit children and their families. Studying the existing literature will help:

“identify gaps in knowledge, and contradictions and disagreements about what is known about the topic

identify areas of uncertainty, puzzlement or confusion in what is known” (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, &Siraj-Blatchford, 2010).

       In addition of being well-encapsulated, the research question must also seek to bring new insights to a topic and not “unknowingly replicate other people’s research” (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, &Siraj-Blatchford, 2010).

        With this in mind, I need to reformulate my question to prepare the research. I also need to craft the question and stay true to my initial interest concerning immigrant families and their children.  Question 2 has several advantages such as:

encapsulating the idea of immigration as it relates to families and children

narrowing the scope of research to practical actions schools and educators could take to better understand their families

promoting a better relationship between school and parents.

 

    Surely, this question will continue to change as the course takes us further in our investigation and as my colleagues offer their feedback.

    Since I teach Spanish to kindergarteners through to 8^th graders, I would greatly benefit from my colleagues’ expertise in preschoolers and their families, especially immigrant families or where one parent was not born in the U.S. I am interested in how children’s social-emotional balance is affected by the impact of immigration in their lives. I would love to glean information on how parents understand their relationship with their children’s teachers and school. I would greatly appreciate if my colleagues could talk about the quality of the relationship they hold with their parents and if they could share with me their thoughts on why it is so.

            Finally, here are four articles that I downloaded from the Walden Library that I plan to use for my simulation research:

DOUCET, F. (2011). Parent Involvement as Ritualized Practice. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 42(4), 404-421. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1492.2011.01148.x

HAMILTON, H. A., MARSHALL, L., RUMMENS, J. A., FENTA, H., & SIMICH, L. (2011). Immigrant Parents' Perceptions of School Environment and Children's Mental Health and Behavior. Journal Of School Health, 81(6), 313-319. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00596.x

Yu, S. M., & Singh, G. K. (2012). High Parenting Aggravation Among US Immigrant Families. American Journal Of Public Health, 102(11), 2102-2108. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300698

Clair, L. t., Jackson, B., & Zweiback, R. (2012). Six Years Later: Effect of Family Involvement Training on the Language Skills of Children From Migrant Families. School Community Journal, 22(1), 9-19.

Reference

 Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

 

 

 

A Special Note of Thanks

Dear Dr. D.,

Thank you for helping each of us to reach our full potential through relentless encouragement and kind guidance!

Week after week, the research I conducted under your guidance led me to push the boundaries of my thoughts and bias, freeing me to open up to new worlds of understanding and sensitivities.

One last thank you for opening us to the international early childhood field! Priceless!
Sincerely,

Marie

Thank you!

It has been invigorating and reassuring to learn that U.S. early childhood educators are not alone in their own state and country, and that educators abroad share similar problems namely issues with changing demographics and diversity, poverty, excellence and equity of care and education for children and families. Knowing that somewhere some educator is on the same wavelength than some of us, that we are not alone, gives me strength to persevere in the field or who else is going to stand up for children.

Importantly, the Early Childhood Australia (ECA) revealed how focused repair work toward a specific population needs to be. In the ECA position statements, “A statement of regret and commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families” mentions that “This commitment will be revisited each year at ECA's National Council meeting to evaluate progress and for review and modification as necessary”, and strikes me as what excellence in equity can look like: a conscious work in progress. Clearly, the ECA realized that in order to restore the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s cultural identity, lands and waters, languages and communities, Australia needs to closely monitor progress for years ahead. In other words, the ECA is aware of the damage done to those populations, such damage taking generations to heal.

Assuredly, my goal is to continue communicating with Cyle Nielsen and hopefully soon start exchanging emails with Elizabeth Burro at Pastoral del Niño. Since, I have not heard back from El Salvador or Canada, my other goal is to submit my request again because I would like to learn firsthand how poverty affects families in those countries.

From the extraordinary adventure at “Pastoral del niño de Paraguay”, I have gained an unexpected confidence in my peers in the EC field. This confidence has healed wounds that were still opened from a past experience teaching in the secondary education. Equally, if my wounds can heal, I know that my peers in the field of early education can bring young children in school what they need to grow up to their full potential.

Since this is the last blog for this class, my last words go to my peers whose ideas and expertise have helped me broaden my understanding of the early childhood field. A heartfelt thank you for sharing the resources you came across while conducting your research: they are safely tucked away but readily available. Thank you for inspiring me!

Good luck on your next class! I hope we can continue to study and grow together to better serve children.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

What a pleasure on Monday, February 18! Cyle responded to my last email as I was getting ready to apologize for flooding her with so many questions when I know she is so busy.
The following is her message:
Hi, Marie,
I haven't forgotten you. I have been super busy - and am behind on paperwork/data entry, etc. for my little students. … ….. Do you have the contact information for Elizabeth de Burro? Dr. Ann Austin knows her well and she would be the best person to answer the questions below. She was the director of Pastoral del Nino at the time the articles were written and is wonderful person with lots of insight, including insight into the political side of poverty issues.
Do you speak Spanish, then?
Blessings!
Cyle

So my next move is to ask for Elizabeth de Burro’s email address and venture writing Dr. Ann Austin.

This week, I received the Early Childhood WebWatch newsletter. Following is a summary of senior writer Stephanie Peatling’s article (2013) mentioned in the EC WebWatch and published in “theage.com.au” .
In the Land Down Under, private day care centers under the umbrella of Early Childhood Australia have asked the government to be directly paid so that parents do not have to advance half the tuition. This measure would simplify the process which at this time forces families to pay the tuition in whole and to wait for the refund of half of it later in the year. The current process is wasting administrative time because each family has to be reimbursed instead of just one institution and those institutions would greatly benefit from being paid early to better balance their budget.
Right now, it is difficult for families and schools to optimally manage their budgets. When a family chooses to have their refund directly paid to the school, they would only have to pay half and the school would be directly funded by the government. Many families have to wait for their refund to pay the rest of the tuition.
Since the government is requiring better teacher qualifications, the Early Childhood Australia is asking the government to increase teachers’ salaries and also provide funds for hiring the requested number of teachers per center.

With regards to this week’s topic, the EC WebWatch addresses the issue of funding that also has a big responsibility in excellence. If excellent teaching is performed by excellent teachers, those teachers must be paid accordingly to their talents in order to avoid teacher turn over. I appreciate the Early Childhood Australia position statement because it brings reality back into the discussion.

Peatling, S. (2013) Childcare industry pushes direct rebate to centres. Retrieved from:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/childcare-industry-pushes-direct-rebate-to-centres-20130208-2e3wy.html#ixzz2Ln6SdoP8
ECA WebWatch—Issue 156, February 2013. © Early Childhood Australia. Retrieved from: webwatch@earlychildhood.org.au
Since listening to the radio brings me companionship, I was stunned the first time I discovered that NAEYC had a station. This week, I listened to Dr. Walter’s interview.

Avoiding Preschool Expulsions
Pica and Ginsberg with Dr. Walter S. Gilliam

What an extraordinary revelation! At an amazing rate of three times more than any other grade, our three year old population is the cohort most frequently expelled from schools.

Since schools are reliable for their students’ well-being, they may expel young children when they present risks of harmful behavior to themselves or to peers. Also, teacher/child ratio and teachers’ lack of training on how to manage challenging behaviors weigh in the difficult relationship between the school and the child. However, Dr. Walter has never seen a child expelled when parents and teachers had a good relationship.

Consequently, Dr. Walter suggests that schools hire consultants/mentors that would attend classes and help teachers identify particular concerns children exhibit. If expulsion makes it on the agenda, consultants could work with teachers and directors as well as with parents with whom they could develop a home behavioral plan; the underlying idea being that providing mental health support for teachers leads to accrued tolerance for children.
Finally, keeping children in school reaps economic benefits and children with behavioral issues are the ones who benefit the most from being in school where they can receive appropriate help.
While emphasizing main reasons 3 year olds are expelled from schools such as overcrowded classrooms and teachers’ lack of training both leading to stress on the job, Dr. Walter throws in a comment about teachers that could be negatively interpreted due to its reference to mental health in a country where mental health is not well understood. According to a screening of which readers are given no details, teachers scoring positive for depression tend to expel young children at a greater rate than others. This unsubstantiated comment raises questions as to the implication of the administration in the decision making and the process through which the decision to expel is reached.

Earlier in the interview, Dr. Walter speaks about a consultant/mentor who could work with teachers in the classroom, with the director, and with parents and develop a school and a home behavioral plan. This idea is interesting because it would bring a specialist to the classroom who could bring their expert support to teachers and children.
In order to successfully be implanted, such a program would need to be accompanied by teachers’ employment protection provisions to prevent support from becoming potential documentation for no rehiring.

Walter, S., G,. NAEYC Radio. BAM Radio. Retrieved from: http://www.naeyc.org/newsroom/NAEYCradio

Sharing Web Resources

What a fantastic way to end the week! Traveling and meeting people with different cultures and languages excites me the most during vacations. Since I have not been able to travel in the last few years, the opportunity to explore countries and their approach of early childhood education fills that gap every week.

Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored. Where do they lead?
With a click of my magic mouse, I am in Australia at the “Australian Government” website, at the “Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations” page. My research questions are awareness and accessibility of early childhood education in Australia. Surprisingly, Australia has committed to universal access to pre-kindergarten by mid 2013. Although access is limited to 40 weeks of 15 hours each, such government effort will change many lives. Also worth noticing, preschoolers will receive instruction by a well-trained and educated teacher. States and provinces will receive governmental funds that will be spent according to a set of agreements that states and provinces have previously agreed to.
Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?
Remarkably, Australia appears to readily put their decision into actions as affirmed by a parent who spent 4 years over there and, who on the other hand, deplored the Australian rampant machismo. Obviously, cultures work at resolving their society issues at their own pace and in their own time. Californians may be less openly macho and yet less progressive regarding early childhood education as in 2006 they rejected a proposition for universal pre-k (Jacobson, L. 2006).
If you receive an e-newsletter, follow a link related to one of the issues you have been studying. What new information is available?
Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education?
In response to the concerns of providing equity and excellence to their young population, Australia demonstrates heightened awareness of the challenges at hand. Below are a few excerpts from the “Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians” addressing the challenges to enforcing equity and excellence in the school system:
“As a nation Australia values the central role of education in building a democratic, equitable and just society— a society that is prosperous, cohesive and culturally diverse, and that values Australia’s Indigenous cultures as a key part of the nation’s history, present and future.
Schools play a vital role in promoting the intellectual, physical, social, emotional, moral, spiritual and aesthetic development and wellbeing of young Australians, and in ensuring the nation’s ongoing economic prosperity and social cohesion. Schools share this responsibility with students, parents, careers, families, the community, business and other education and training providers. In recognition of this collective responsibility, this declaration, in contrast to earlier declarations on schooling, has a broader frame and sets educational goals for young Australians.
In striving for both equity and excellence, there are several areas in which Australian school education needs to make significant improvement. First, Australia has failed to improve educational outcomes for many Indigenous Australians and addressing this issue must be a key priority over the next decade. Second, by comparison with the world’s highest performing school systems, Australian students from low socioeconomic backgrounds are under-represented among high achievers and over- represented among low achievers. Third, there is room for improvement in Australia’s rate of Year 12 completion or equivalent.”
Strikingly, Australia’s commitment to making it right by their aboriginal populations manifests every time they make a decision that can potentially affect the greater part of the population. In order to be equitable and provide excellence to all children, Australia has realized that some children have greater needs than others and that meeting those needs responds to what society needs to do to be equitable and dispense an education that is excellent to everyone.
What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain this week from exploring the website and/or the e-newsletter?
As Delila Vasquez mentioned “inequity is a social issue and it concerns all of us.” The field of early childhood must promote high-quality early childhood education to every child and endeavor to make preschool available at birth through kindergarten. Writing policies benefitting every child and working in partnerships with communities to ensure culturally sound programs will help children grow physically and socio-emotionally healthy. This effort needs to be a “sustained and coordinated approach” (Council of Australian Government, 2009).

In his State of the Union Address last Tuesday, February 12, President Obama expressed his commitment to be working with states to make early childhood education available and accessible to every child (Avance, 2013). Professionals in the field must make sure the president’s words manifest into actions and continue advocating when and if interest in young children fades away.

Resources
Jacobson, L. (2006). Calif. Voters Reject Universal Pre-K Initiative
Foes raised questions on plan’s benefits, costs to taxpayers. Education Week. Retrieved from:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/06/14/40reiner.h25.html

Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. (December 2008). Retrieved from: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CEEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mceecdya.edu.au%2Fverve%2F_resources%2Fnational_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pdf&ei=plwgUcXgOMmLiAKip4HABA&usg=AFQjCNEiz3h7n-tbLyUrxqo2d7xFw-2lQQ&sig2=01xY-2aN56xHDxjehlwybw&bvm=bv.42661473,d.cGE

Council of Australian Government. (2009). National Integrated Strategy for Closing the Gap in Indigenous Disadvantage. Retrieved from: http://www.coag.gov.au/node/65

AVANCE’s Statement on President Obama’s Renewed Commitment to Early Childhood Education in Annual State of the Union Address. Retrieved from: http://www.avance.org/2013/02/avances-statement-on-president-obamas-renewed-commitment-to-early-childhood-education-in-annual-state-of-the-union-address/

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2
First, I decided to explore a little more the Unicef website. Dr. Mohammad Yunus who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, “Creating a poverty-free world” says that “poverty is not created by poor people but by the system”. Dr. Yunus promoted micro-financing in Bangladesh and helped many families rise above poverty. In the video, Dr. Yunus uses the metaphor of the bonsai tree to explain poverty. From the tallest tree in the forest, we take the best seed and plant it in a flower pot. The tree will grow small even though there is nothing wrong with the seed because it came from the tallest in the forest: something is wrong with the base, the flower pot. Dr. Yunus recommends society gives more space to poor people, more opportunities, and they will be able to make a decent living for themselves.
Resources
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C3XQ3BTd4o
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/bangladesh_36162.html
How does early exposure to education, providing infants and toddlers with a stimulating environment that ensure the building of healthy brain pathways prevent behavior problems and lack of motivation in school? Underprivileged children benefit the most from universal preschool because this may be the only place where their curiosity for the world will be solicited which in turn will get them ready to succeed in primary school. Although affluent children are most likely receiving adequate brain stimulation since birth, why do they experience behavior problems and lack of motivation in school? It appears that poverty creates lifelong issues difficult for underprivileged children to overcome. Making preschool available and accessible for all children can greatly reduce achievement gaps without totally eradicating inequalities.
After watching the Unicef video filmed in Georgia, I am wondering if the early childhood education brought by the occident in demand of the Georgian government might not create conflicts with families when their children become aware of their cultural environment. In an effort to push English to first position as first foreign language, native English teachers are encouraged to teach in Georgia. What will the outcome of such a big push for western values?
Resources
http://www.unicefusa.org/news/video/
On the “Current Context for Global Child Development” at the Center on the Developing Child, health and development are in the spotlight. The article mentions that the global community has acknowledged the importance of “early childhood health and development”, and critical health factor in successful physical and emotional development,. However, children in many countries continue to suffer from malnutrition and infections as the converging understanding of economists, neuroscientists and politicians brings these children and families some hope. Early childhood science has the potential to bring positive change to the world.
Resources
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/ubc/
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/topics/global_child_development/current_context_/
Since Cyle has not yet replied to my last email, I decided to investigate two programs that stemmed from a desire to remedy children’s health problems.
The first one originates in the province of Quebec, Canada. Dr. Gilles Julien, pediatrician, strives to develop social pediatrics in communities for the well-being of the greater number of children. Social pediatrics is based on trust, respect, and working closely with children and their families, in partnerships with various systems and organizations that play a role in children’s life to better meet their health needs. This practice helps children and their families to regain control of their lives. In this sense, the model departs from the notion of "support" and adopts the empowerment and involvement of the child, the family and the community. The model promotes actions focused on the strengths of children, families and the creative potential of the community, according to the African concept that “the village is responsible for their children." This practice involves an impressive number of partners from the extended family, community, community groups, civil society and institutions. It promotes social commitment to enrich the living environment of the child and contributes to the social and economic equity.
Ashoka Canada - Everyone is a change maker - works in partnership with Dr. Julien’s Foundation. They envision “a world that responds quickly and effectively to social challenges, and where each individual has the freedom, confidence and societal support to address any social problem and drive change”.
Resources
http://canada.ashoka.org/videos
http://www.socialmedicine.org/
Secondly, the Chicuchas Wasi school in Cusco, Perú, drew my attention as my friend was describing it. The following is an excerpt from Chicuchas Wasi’s home page:
We have worked for 25 years to educate the families, and the Andean community, regarding the value of their (girl) children and the many abilities they will develop if given the opportunity for a future out of poverty and economic dependence. We strive to prepare these girls with skills that will enable them to defend themselves economically when they become adults. Through the experience of their years of education, our girls will instill in their own future children the knowledge that there are choices other than poverty and dependency on a father, brother or husband for survival. We hope to stem the flow of unwanted children who are often abandoned when their fathers leave their mothers with no income, no food, no social resources. Without formal education, and left to survive as a mother alone, women are forced to seek security with another man who often will not accept the women's children by another man – and child abandonment is often the result.
Chicuchas Wasi began in 1987 as an organization caring for abandoned children in Cusco. The indigenous Andean community lives in poverty, often lacking clean water, food, medical care, and education. We have made much progress in our 25 years, assisting the Andean community by providing free education for many of their girls who enter and continue in our school each year.
This project is a testament to what poverty brings to children and their families. This project speaks about an excellent program striving to reduce inequity.
Resources
http://www.chicuchaswasi.org/chicuchaswasi.org/Home.html