Home visiting supports have meaningful impacts on the lives of children and families. Start Early Washington supports new and existing home visiting programs with coaching, consultation, training and professional learning to ensure the highest quality home visiting services for families.
Our staff includes professionals whose expertise is enriched by lived experiences and practical knowledge. As one of our proudest achievements, Start Early Washington staff hold over 165 years of combined home visiting experience!
This blog post introduces our senior home visiting manager, Cassie Morley, who draws from nearly three decades of home visiting experience to oversee a talented team that supports 63 home visiting programs statewide.
Cassie swinging with her 5-month-old granddaughter, Loveday (2021)
Spark of Inspiration
Cassie discovered her passion for home visiting as a college student preparing for a theater production of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” As part of the pre-production process, the director organized a workshop with the renowned childbirth educator and author Penny Simkin to help students perform their roles authentically. The director’s Saturday workshop might otherwise have been a footnote in Cassie’s career, but instead, it sparked inspiration and changed her life’s course. Cassie was captivated to learn about the multifaceted roles doulas and midwives play and how meaningful it felt to support the birthing process during such a transformative time in people’s lives.
Cassie pursued a career in midwifery as soon as she graduated college.
Partnering with Families
After completing her training as a midwife and practicing as a doula, Cassie furthered her passion for working with families as a home visitor with Parents as Teachers, and spending many years as a family resources coordinator, supporting the parents of infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays.
Cassie’s career continued to flourish as a Parents as Teacher home visitor working with tribal families across the South Sound region. Her love for partnering with tribal families deepened her insight into the essential roles that language, culture and community norms play in early childhood development. Connecting with families in this capacity was a life-changing experience and led to many years of collaboration and support for tribal nations in Washington state.
Firsthand Experiences
Cassie noted how the support from a home visitor, trusting relationships, and access to resources are instrumental for new parents in making those first few years more manageable. “People with new babies are busy trying to survive and reinvent themselves; it can be hard to advocate for yourself. The demands of being a parent are constantly changing, personal growth is hard work and having someone there to support you along the way is critical.” As a single parent raising a child diagnosed with epilepsy and intellectual disabilities, Cassie experienced firsthand how incredibly challenging and complex it can be to care for a young child.
Cassie holding her 2-month-old daughter, Ash (2001)
While Cassie’s firsthand experiences as a parent and home visitor fueled her passion for removing barriers for parents, years of evidence of the impact of home visiting solidified her belief in its role in positively influencing lifelong outcomes for children and their families.
“Change is a constant in home visiting work. Infants and toddlers grow and change rapidly; parents have to stretch and grow to support their ever-changing children. Home visitors are continually learning new skills, making adjustments and fine-tuning their support of families. In turn, home visiting supervisors are continuously striving to change and improve the quality of support provided to the families they serve.”
Parallel Process and Positive Change
Cassie’s accomplished career supporting families includes doula, home visitor, home visiting program supervisor, Parents as Teachers state lead — and her current role at the systems-level, where she influences meaningful outcomes for children and their families across Washington state.
Because of these experiences, she has a unique ability to understand the implications and effects of program and policy change, allowing her to advocate for children and families alongside partners at multiple levels.
“Start Early Washington’s home visiting team supports programs across the state. We are always refining our work and making incremental changes. Meaningful change is possible because of the authentic relationships we foster. Our work is grounded in emotional support, role clarity, honesty, trust and safety.” — Cassie Morley
We don’t know much about art, but we know what we like—and that’s seeing young children find ways to express themselves and spark creativity while they’re learning. Whether you have a little Picasso on your hands or you are actively looking for ways to introduce art to your child, we have tips for you!
We asked our Start Early experts for their advice for parents and caregivers on the best ways to use art to support your child’s learning and development. And the teachers of Room 114 at Educare Chicago, a program of Start Early, delivered.
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Check out what Annaliese Newmeyer, Charlene Macklin, Lisa LaRue have shared when it comes to why art is so important for our youngest learners and how you can make it part of your everyday routine:
What are the benefits of introducing art to young learners?
Art is an important part of child’s development in young learners. It not only provides children with a way to express themselves and spark their creativity, but it also provides teachers with a glimpse into how a child sees the world and what is important to them. Something as small as how a child focuses on a butterfly’s wing when drawing a butterfly, or the details of their hair in a self-portrait; whatever it is, art can be a window into a child’s mind.
Going to school can be traumatic for young children, they have to say goodbye to their favorite people and spend the day following rules and sharing, so art can be a way to relax and meet a child’s social and emotional needs as a form of self-regulation. And most of all, art is fun!
Educare Chicago student painting
Educare Chicago student tracing a photo of themselves
Paint swirl art activity
Are there any specific cognitive or physical developmental abilities that art projects help support in early learners?
By holding different types of drawing materials your child is actively working on their fine motor development. Art also works a different part of your brain than science or math since there is a no wrong answer.
Breaking down art projects into steps helps develop cognitive abilities. For example, when we introduce painting, we teach the children the steps: dip- paint- clean, dip- paint- clean. We can even make it into a little song and dance to help the kids remember to dip their paint brush in the paint, paint and then clean off the brush to get a new color.
Art is also very scientific and mathematical. You are asking big important questions when you want to know what happens when you mix colors or layer textures or create patterns.
What at-home projects you would recommend for infants and toddlers?
This is the best time to introduce different art materials to your child. The more experience they have with crayons, markers and paints the better they will be able to express themselves as they get older.
Focus on the sensory aspect and talk about texture.
Put words to your child’s actions, “you are touching the cold, smooth red paint. It’s red like an apple or a firetruck. The red is very vibrant on the white paper.”
Be playful and enjoy it. It won’t look like Pinterest, it will be messy.
Be prepared with wipes, paper towels and clothing that can get dirty.
Give your children a material and observe how they use it, what can you add to make the experience fuller or to extend their interest?
Use age-appropriate materials like chunky crayons, no markers, non-toxic paint, play dough, contact paper, tissue paper.
What at-home projects you would recommend for children ages 3-5?
Collaging
Cutting (an important fine motor skill)
Drawing pictures and describing the image
Telling a story about their art
Bookmaking
Junk art with material from the recycling bin
What is your favorite aspect of teaching art to early learners and why?
It’s fun because you can learn about the child through their art. You learn if they mind getting messy and how they see the world around them. One student we had was so amazing with watercolors, every time we brought out the watercolors, she would paint the most amazing pictures. She struggles in other areas in the classroom but working with the paint gave her a confidence that was then reflected throughout the classroom.
You get to watch them create; we might not understand what they are painting or drawing but they do. For example, we might see a red circle but to them it’s a volcano. They get so excited about their creations.
Art is a form of expression, so it helps us be able to see deeper into their minds and what they find important. For example, we might give children wings, a body, black and yellow stripes of paper and glue and ask them to make a bee and to see the variations in what a bee will look like is amazing! Some kids focus on the stripes or the wings or even where they will place the eyes is fascinating.
Any other tips for incorporating art into children’s learning?
It’s not about the product it’s about the process!
Give them a provocation (example: have them draw a picture of their fish).
Take paper and crayons everywhere you go and have your child record what they see around them.
Have your child tell you a story about what they create.
About the Authors
The teachers in Room 114 have been a team for this past year.
Annaliese Newmeyer, M.Ed, has been a Mentor Coach and Lead Teacher at Educare Chicago for the past 9 years. Annaliese enjoys reading children’s books and gardening with children. She feels like it is important to teach children to take care of others and heal each other through actions rather than words.
Charlene Macklin has been a teacher at Educare Chicago for 9 years and is currently working on her PEL license at the University of Illinois Chicago. She enjoys arts and crafts and hands-on experiences to build children’s understanding of the world around them.
Lisa LaRue has been a teacher for over 25 years, and at Educare Chicago for 15 years. Her motto is, “We are a Classroom Community,” and she works to establish a cooperative community through learning. She is an expert in preparing children for kindergarten.
“My personal experience with ParentChild+ will last a lifetime!” Marcella shares her memories as one of many families who benefited from working with an early learning specialist through the ParentChild+ program.
Marcella and her daughter Taylor-Corrine participated in the ParentChild+ (PC+) program more than 16 years ago. Marcella admired the program’s ability to support the whole family in shaping a bright path for her daughter’s future. As a result, she was inspired to become an early learning specialist for PC+, supporting other families to build strong foundations and thriving futures. Currently, she is the PC+ program manager at Start Early Washington, where she supports 16 PC+ programs with technical assistance, professional development, coaching and consultation.
How Positive Reinforcement Builds Confidence
Positive reinforcement amplifies what is already working well and PC+ early learning specialists do that in numerous ways. They remind families that they are already doing a fantastic job with their child. Conversations are always positive, confidence building and reassuring to families that they know their child best. Marcella noted this as an element she appreciated most as a participant. “I knew that someone wasn’t coming into my home to judge me or my parenting style.”
As a new mother, Marcella learned to use high quality parent-child interactions in everyday moments that are often overlooked as learning opportunities, such as parent self-talk and narrating routine activities. For example, Marcella experienced how easy this could be while talking aloud in the grocery isles about ingredients on her shopping list to her daughter Taylor-Corrine.
She quickly realized the value of her simple teachable moments when a stranger at the grocery store commented, “I love how you interact with your daughter.” That acknowledgment further reinforced that she was doing a fantastic job as a parent. “It elevated my confidence to a new level.” This positive feedback loop continued throughout the program and Taylor-Corrine’s life.
Shared Language and Culture Fosters Meaningful Relationships
As a unique component of the PC+ program, early learning specialists are matched with families who share their culture and language. A shared culture often plays an intricate role in fostering meaningful relationships. Notably, early learning specialists are hired from within the communities where they work and 25 percent of early learning specials are former parents who participated in the program.
“An authentic relationship and cultural match with our specialist was really important to our family when we participated,” Marcella noted fostering a trusting, authentic relationship with families is vital for successful engagement. “Families are more comfortable discussing difficult topics and asking for support,” she added.
Families develop a close bond with their early learning specialists over the course of 2 years. During that time, they receive 96 home visits and acquire several high quality books and educational materials selected specifically for their child’s age group, ranging from 2 months to 5 years of age. In addition, they receive various guide sheets to help facilitate learning through play.
Strong Foundations Lead to Future Success
The PC+ program aims to improve parent-child engagement and connect families with culturally appropriate information and materials to support school readiness, early literacy and lifelong success.
Access to culturally appropriate books and toys provided by the program opened an entirely new world for Marcella and her family. Books such as “Please, Baby, Please,” by Spike Lee and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, allowed Taylor-Corrine to be surrounded by characters who looked and felt like she did. “It was the first book Taylor-Corrine saw herself in,” Marcella explained.
Marcella noted that key representation through her child’s learning helped Taylor-Corrine feel inspired and confident to try new things. “It was life-changing for her, in so many ways, PC+ helped us provide the tools our daughter needed to be successful throughout life.”
Marcella’s testimony of her family’s experience offered a few tangible examples of strong foundations leading to future success. Marcella leveraged the many tools provided by the program to make learning fun and effective for her daughter. As a result, by the time Taylor-Corrine entered kindergarten, she loved learning and Marcella was confident in communicating Taylor-Corrine’s academic needs with her teachers.
I know the approach works and changes lives because it did for me.
— Marcella Taylor
Today, Taylor-Corrine is thriving as a sophomore at the University of Southern California studying African American Studies, Philosophy, Politics and Law. She plans to practice law as a civil rights attorney someday.
Taylor-Corrine (2022)
Taylor-Corrine continues to inspire her mother every day: “I am so proud of the woman she has become — I look at her and say, I want to be her when I grow up! She is independent and comfortable owning her space as a Black woman; she is confident and never questions if she belongs. Her success moves me forward to do better every day!”
Although the credit goes to Taylor-Corrine and her family, it is evident from speaking with Marcella that strong foundations were likely set in action through teachable moments discovered and supported through their participation in the PC+ program over 16 years ago.
Marcella and Taylor-Corrine explored Alki Beach after receiving an ocean-themed puzzle from their early learning specialist. (2005)
As the world shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, countless families were left in crisis. Suddenly, parents were full-time caregivers, employees and teachers; they needed support more than ever. When Gaby Rosario began working as the new Parents as Teachers state leader for Start Early Washington last year, she admired how home visiting programs quickly and effectively adapted to virtual visits to continue meeting the needs of families.
Gaby sledding with her nieces (Jan. 2022)
Flexibility is Key
Home visitors strive to build strong relationships with parents and encourage positive parent-child engagement to support healthy child development and future outcomes. One of the most powerful tools they have is connecting with families face to face, but when all in-person services shut down due to the pandemic, physical contact was no longer an option.
“Challenges brought on by the pandemic allowed us to stretch our minds and creatively support home visiting services,” Gaby highlighted. Home visiting programs pivoted to individualized services meeting the unique needs of families from a safe distance. “We shortened check-in periods and checked in more often, utilizing various methods of engagement such as email, text messages and phone calls to support families as they worked through learning and reflection.”
Conducting home visits on a virtual level meant staff had to think outside the box to ensure all the required components for a visit were still in place. Parental engagement unexpectedly increased for many families. “It was deeply meaningful when parents shared videos and pictures of their children thriving with the individualized activities created specifically for them. Gaby shared, “Our relationships with families deepened and it was rewarding to witness the positive parent-child interactions.”
Activity: Utilize family environment to support sensory and fine motor development.
With social distancing precautions in place, home visitors’ roles during visits shifted dramatically. They relied on families to lead parent-child interactions, which brought unexpected benefits as families took on leadership in the learning process. Home visitors leaned into coaching, supporting, answering questions and facilitating rather than leading home visits.
Gaby described, “We saw a new level of enjoyment with families that chose to participate virtually; parents’ confidence in leading individualized activities grew and we saw deeper connections between parents and their children. Parents’ messages of excitement, ‘Look what my child did today!’ were so inspiring.”
Reaching Rural Families
“One of the key things the pandemic taught us was that we could reach families further away through virtual systems.” As an expert in serving families in rural communities, Gaby was determined to partner with her team to harness technology-based services. By offering virtual home visiting services, they managed to overcome the challenges of long-distance travel and access to remote areas in bad weather.
Staff repurposed travel time to spend more time intentionally individualizing services for families. “Without the need to be physically present, home visitors provided more flexibility, accommodating family scheduling constraints or last-minute changes, if necessary,” explained Gaby.
Some families did not have access to technology at all. To meet this challenge, programs developed innovative solutions, including purchasing tablets and providing families with internet and cellphone assistance. Other strategies included scheduling virtual meetings at community agencies or public libraries, where families accessed broadband and technology-based services.
A few families lived in extremely isolated areas. Consequently, home visitors preplanned connections with families when they traveled into town and had access to virtual services. Gaby added, “One family lived deep in the mountains on the outskirts of the small city of Tonasket. When it wasn’t possible to connect in town, staff journeyed into the mountains to drop off activities and make a personal connection, even if that meant they had to share stories from 6 feet apart. We made every effort to ensure families had what they needed during this difficult period of isolation.”
Letting Families Know They’re Heard
Although bilingual resources were available for families, not all programs had home visitors that spoke languages other than English. Fluent in English and Spanish herself, Gaby understood the importance of connecting with families in a language they felt most comfortable. Before the pandemic, programs arranged in-person translation and interpretation or utilized call-in services for interpretation during in-person home visits. However, with social distancing precautions in place, it became necessary to adapt this practice. As a result, programs pivoted to virtual translation and interpretation tools, which took extra planning but were well worth the effort. Staff coordinated within agencies to share translation and interpretation services, and translators provided services over three-way calls or virtual platforms.
Gaby shared, “There was a learning curve as teams and families navigated multiple platforms and new methods of technology. Families tried new things they never thought they would try, and we continued to provide the one-on-one support they needed to feel comfortable.”
The technical support provided by staff did more than help with home visiting services; it offered families a window to the outside world again. Gaby explained, “The assistance we provided for a Spanish-speaking mother living in Brewster gave her confidence to support her three school-age children with their virtual classes. At the time, families did not know what virtual engagement looked like or how to navigate tools like Zoom. Together, we made sure her tablet settings were in Spanish, downloaded useful apps and walked through navigating virtual engagement.”
“Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a new way to stand.”
- Oprah Winfrey
The world has had to find new ways of navigating everyday life since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and Start Early is no exception.
“One of the most significant things we learned during this new period of virtual-based engagement is that a willingness to be flexible is essential to both the home visiting support teams and families,” Gaby reflected.
Washington’s home visitors continue to work on adaptations needed to meet program requirements. In support, Start Early Washington curated a list of resources for home visitors to guide technology-based engagement.
Gaby Rosario supports professional development, training, technical assistance and coaching for 27 Parents as Teachers home visiting programs statewide.
Today’s early childhood organizations are vocal about their commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). As leaders, we vary in the degree to which we responsively identify and change processes that make those commitments visible. Regardless of how long we have been or where we stand in the field of home visiting, we need not look far to find ways to move from intention to impact.
Consider this quick questionnaire:
Think about the values and cultural backgrounds of families in your program. Is there cultural alignment between the practitioners and the enrolled families?
Who is responsible for decisions of policy, job qualifications, and practice protocols for home visitors and supervisors in your program? How many of those who are making system and protocol decisions are actively engaged with families on a day-to-day basis?
COVID has prolonged widespread staff vacancies in early childhood settings. Today’s leaders are faced with the simultaneous challenges of hiring new staff and retaining their current workforce. During this season of workforce upheaval, we need to look for ways to cultivate and elevate the voice, experience, and expertise of those currently engaged in direct work with families to increase DEIB in our programs.
Home visitors, by the very nature of their jobs, are uniquely positioned to support caregivers’ goals for themselves and their child. Parents and home visitors co-develop action plans in the context of the family’s composition of members, culture, community, and economic resources. Home visitors partner with parents and caregivers directly to navigate culturally dismissive, disconnected community systems that are not responsive to the family’s identified needs. Practitioners hold expertise in their local resources, provide in-person and virtual support, are on top of trends and interests of families, and have the experience and perspectives of cultural brokers in the community. They honor a caregiver’s unspoken words, “…nothing about me without me…”.
As we prepare for the upcoming virtual National Home Visiting Summit in late March, let’s keep talking with each other and listening to the perspectives and expertise of home visitors. Let’s challenge ourselves to identify strategies that seek to invite, reach, engage, and cultivate the invaluable input of practitioners. When we return to the routines of our work, let’s commit to create and improve platforms for home visitors’ involvement in decisions related to policy, research and practice that directly impact them.
Interested in learning more about Start Early’s resources and learning opportunities for home visitors and supervisors? Check out our Essentials of Home Visiting online professional development experiences or reach out to us directly at professionaldevelopment@startearly.org.
Start Early has been named the winner of a Gold Stevie® Award for Achievement in Benefits Design and Administration for its paid parental leave program. The Stevie Awards for Great Employers recognize the world’s best employers and the human resources professionals, teams, achievements and HR-related products and suppliers who help to create and drive great places to work.
The overwhelming benefits of paid leave compel Start Early to advocate for these policies nationally and inspired our organization’s leading paid leave policy. During a child’s first few weeks and months, a nurturing and supportive environment lays the foundation for their future success in school and life. Our paid parental leave program allows families to be together at this most critical time.
In 2019, the People & Culture team set a strategic goal to transform our leave program through improved employee benefits, explicitly enhancing our paid parental leave for the year 2020. Infancy is the most crucial period of brain development and it is vital that babies and their parents are supported during this time to promote bonding and healthy attachment. We knew it was time to up our game and we needed to create a parental leave package that matched our mission and supported families in the moments that matter most: the earliest years.
After a series of focus groups with former and expecting parents to discuss what was working and where we needed to improve, we rolled out our new policy in 2020, including:
Increasing our parental leave by more than 50% (from 12 weeks to 6 months) for both moms and dads Introducing 100% paid leave, eliminating the need for employees to use their own vacation, sick or personal hours to receive full pay
Expanding our paid leave eligibility to include adoption, surrogacy, or foster parenting
Launching an integrated family benefits platform, Cleo, to help connect families with the support they need to be their best at home and at work
Activating Bright Horizons, a benefit that assists employees returning from leave with finding childcare or back-up care, if needed.
Together, these award-winning benefits help our families start off on a strong path.
Start Early and other honorees were recognized during a virtual awards ceremony on November 17. Details about the Stevie Awards for Great Employers and the list of 2021 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR.
Plenty of adults have a hard time staying on top of their own dental health and may even dread going to the dentist for care. Some people may even wrongly think that baby teeth aren’t important since little kids are just going to lose those baby teeth anyway. However, it is very important to start building healthy habits early on. Did you know that a child’s dental health can have huge impacts on their school readiness and their ability to learn?
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We know that children must be healthy and ready to learn for school, and good dental health plays a bigger role than you might think. When we think about health and wellness, often dental health doesn’t come to mind; however, poor dental health during a child’s earliest years of life can be connected to poor attendance in school, lower test scores, decreased high school graduation rates and fewer job opportunities. Dental decay is the leading chronic health condition among children in the United States, and it’s 100% preventable!
Taking charge of your little one’s dental health is so important. The earlier you start taking your child to the dentist the easier it will become! They’ll get used to going and are likely to really enjoy it. We recommend taking your little one to a pediatric dentist and always seeing the same provider so they know your family better.
Why a Pediatric Dentist?
Pediatric dentists have been trained to expertly provide care to young children.
If treatment is needed, pediatric dentists can often provide care in fewer visits.
Having a consistent dentist will help both you as a parent and your child build a relationship with someone they know and trust.
As a parent you will receive quality dental health education on what you need to do to make sure your children are healthy. This includes information on nutrition, bottles, pacifiers, how to brush children’s teeth well, future growth and development and dental health issues associated with conditions like asthma or ADHD.
In a dental health emergency (fall, chip, pain), you have a trusted place you can take your child to be seen.
Important Reminders:
Exams and preventive care are important, but a child is not healthy if they have an infection (cavity) in their mouth.
The sooner tooth decay is treated, the easier it will be for the child and parent. If ignored, it will get worse and may cause a serious problem.
Children should be seen every 6 months (or more often if a child has a high risk), starting no later than 12 months. Parents shouldn’t leave the dental office without making a follow-up appointment.
Questions to Consider About Your Child’s Dental Health:
Do you need a referral to find a dentist? Is your dentist in your insurance network?
Are you happy with your child’s dentist?
When was the first time your child visited a dentist?
When was the last time your child visited a dentist?
Do you brush your child’s teeth daily?
Do you ever notice your child avoiding hot or cold drinks or hard to chew foods, having tooth pain (especially when chewing food), bleeding from the gums, or any odor from their mouth?
Tips for Infants:
Start cleaning your child’s mouth with a small soft toothbrush even before teeth come in. This will make it easier for your child to get used to it.
Do not let your child fall asleep with a bottle or while breastfeeding.
Never add sugar or honey to a bottle.
To sooth teething, rub gums with a cold spoon or clean teething ring.
As soon as the first tooth pops up, (at about 6 months) use a soft bristle brush and small amount of fluoride toothpaste (no more than grain of rice size) to brush.
Stop use of bottle at 1 year; instead use cup for drinking.
Visit dentist when teeth appear—experts recommend taking your baby to the dentist by the time their first tooth comes in, and no later than 12 months. It’s never too early to see the dentist!
Tips for Toddlers & Preschoolers:
Continue to brush your child’s teeth. They don’t have the skills to effectively do on their own until they can tie their shoes (at about 6-8 years).
When you brush your child’s teeth, lift the lip and look for color changes
Give fruit rather than juice. If you do give juice, give no more than 6 oz. per day, and follow-up with water.
At age 3 begin flossing when two teeth touch.
Teach child to flush mouth with water after every meal.
Visit the dentist every 6 months, or more often if your dentist recommends it.
Cheese makes a good snack swap and is great for teeth!
Always be positive when you talk to your child about going to the dentist.
Children with a toothache may not know how to tell you they have pain. Be on the lookout for these signs:
Biting on one side
Eating only soft foods
Avoiding eating or drinking hot or cold foods
Moodiness
You have the power to make sure your child is free from tooth decay!
Finding a way to talk about hard things can be challenging and stressful for even the most seasoned home visitor and family support professional. This has been especially true over the past year and a half as we’ve experienced the crises and challenges of the pandemic and more.
In talking to home visitors, supervisors and administrators about how they’re handling the current pressures of their environments, they’ve shared that what they really need right now is incremental support. In response to this need, we are pleased to announce the publication of the 4th edition of the NEAR@Home Toolkit. The NEAR@Home Toolkit is a free, self-study guide for how to safely, respectfully and effectively discuss ACES (adverse childhood experiences), trauma, and other hard things with parents by focusing on hope, respect and resilience. This newest edition features stories and quotes from home visitors to help contextualize the work described in the toolkit, and a framework for thinking about childhood trauma and adversity.
The NEAR@Home Toolkit
A resource for home visitors to respectfully and effectively address adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) with families.
We spoke about how the four elements that serve as the foundation of the NEAR@Home Toolkit — Neuroscience, Epigenetics, ACEs, and Resilience — come to life in our recent webinar at the Region 9 Early Head Start Conference, “Messing Up in Home Visits: an Opportunity for Repair and Deepening the Relationship.”
As a former home visitor, I can attest that we all mess up. Ruptures in home visitors’ relationships with families are inevitable. By openly talking about our mistakes, we have an opportunity to learn and grow. In the webinar, we share strategies to repair the interactions between home visitors and families, leading to a more authentic and trusting home visitor-parent relationship. View the webinar recording directly below.
For home visitors who want to go deeper, the NEAR@Home Facilitated Learning process offers home visiting programs additional support for the toolkit, including experiential and reflective learning resources and modules, as well as support to implement the toolkit. The facilitated learning process occurs over 6-12 months in a safe, supported small group led by a specially trained NEAR Facilitator with expertise in home visiting and infant mental health. Reach out to us at ProfessionalDevelopment@StartEarly.org to discuss how to bring NEAR@Home to your program.
As educators and parents of three young children, Kapria Robinson and her husband know starting early shapes not only a child’s kindergarten experience, but their entire educational journey.
“We wanted to make sure we provided early learning programs for our own children that supported their academic, social and emotional skills. And where they got to experience joy every day at school; a place where they were happy, knew that they were loved, and would thrive,” she recalls.
So when Kapria toured Educare Chicago on the recommendation of their foster care agency five years ago, she knew she has found the right program for her family. She enrolled her two eldest children, Alexander and Catalina, who were just 16-months and 6-months at the time.
Kapria, Alexander & Catalina
“Our case manager said families who had their children at Educare Chicago were thriving and that they were supportive of the blended foster-adoptive family dynamic,” Kapria remembers. “With the foster care process, they were very open to things like working with biological parents. Also, the smaller class sizes and the student-to-teacher ratio is amazing. To have three adults, working with kids when they’re younger just makes all the work of difference.”
I strongly believe that all children should attend preschool prior to going to an elementary school, just so that they get those beginning foundational skills in a classroom setting.
Kapria Robinson
An Approach Making a World of Difference
Parent engagement and coaching is at the core of Educare Chicago’s approach, which begins before the first day of school.
“Early on, Educare staff wanted to learn what our kids were interested in and what life was like outside of school. In fact, we met the teachers and had already spoke with the family support specialist in our own home by the time the kids began school,” Kapria reflects.
From Kapria’s perspective, “Educare’s approach is years ahead of most other programs. They make sure to ask a lot of higher order thinking questions. They engage the kids in a lot of discussions, they encourage them to, you know, have their own voice and to have their own throughs — and they positively affirm them.”
“Their team made sure that the kids got what they needed. When my son had challenges with separation anxiety, teachers like Miss Danielle would reach out with different stories we could read with him to make that transition a little easier. It has been a wonderful experience for us,” she continues.
Catalina & Alexander
Educare Chicago’s family engagement and parent coaching helped Kapria and her husband stay fully informed about their children’s education and able to reinforce behaviors and learnings at home.
“They would make sure that we understood what our kids were learning. During the parent engagement activities, they really make sure to break down different ways to engage your kids around math, literacy, STEM and art activities,” Kapria shares. “They helped us to truly understand how to engage our children, what questions to ask them, what vocabulary to focus on.
In addition to empowering Kapria and her husband in their role as their children’s first and best teachers, the Educare Chicago community offers a space to meet, engage with and learn from other parents.
“It gave us an opportunity to connect with some of the other parents, which is hugely important in building a community for your children, so that you have other families for them to visit for play dates and that share the same ideas about what is important for their children and their education.”
Ready for Kindergarten and a Lifetime of Learning
Quality early learning and care programs like Educare Chicago help children like Kapria’s enter kindergarten ready to learn. Because early childhood is a time of rapid development in multiple areas — physical, emotional, cognitive and social growth — kindergarten readiness is more than observing a child recite shapes, numbers and colors. A child who is ready for kindergarten is curious, can form relationships and has social interactions with nurturing adults and peers.
Kapria believes Educare Chicago’s approach helped spark an ongoing love for learning within her children that has set them up for a lifetime of success.
“Educare’s approach to involving parents in their children’s education journey and constantly getting feedback has been a huge part of why our children are so successful and driven to keep learning,” she says. “They not only taught the preschool curriculum in ways that were engaging, but they also expanded it to include skills or concepts we were interested in our children learning and based on their assessments of what our kids were ready to learn.”
Today, Kapria’s two oldest children have graduated Educare Chicago and are thriving in Chicago Public Schools. Alexander is in first grade and Catalina is in kindergarten, and both recently tested into gifted and classical programs. Her youngest, a 2-year old, is currently enrolled at Educare Chicago.
“Alexander just completed his first year in a gifted kindergarten program and received straight As, awards for citizenship, being a good friend to his classmates and being helpful. He’s accelerated through the remote learning challenges they provided. I know a lot of that had to do with the competence he had in his skills and the motivation Educare Chicago gave him that if he wanted to do something he could absolutely do it,” Kapria proudly shares.
Given her children’s early education success and her own work in education, Kapria advocates that all children should start early.
“I strongly believe that all children should attend preschool prior to going to an elementary school, just so that they get those beginning foundational skills in a classroom setting. Children just excel when they have the opportunity to interact and communicate with and learn from one another.”
Last month, families across the country began receiving the first payments under the Advance Child Tax Credit (ACTA), a part of the American Rescue Plan Act. For many families with young children, like Educare Chicago parent Cheryse Singleton-Nobles, the expanded Child Tax Credit offers integral support that increases their ability to provide a stable environment and experiences for their children to thrive.
“A lot of us are struggling. Even though the pandemic is ending, that doesn’t end the financial impacts it created,” Cheryse shares.
“We need the Child Tax Credit to survive. We need it for our families, to help our businesses grow, for school supplies, to put gas in the car. We need it so our families can keep striving and so we can raise successful young individuals."
Cheryse Singleton-Nobles
Across the nation, even as employment is rising and strains on household budgets have eased in recent months families continue to struggle. One in three adults with children report difficulty covering usual household expenses, and one in eight report their families don’t have enough to eat. This financial strain and chronic stress can undermine young children’s sense of security, safety and joy. If prolonged, it can have a negative, long-term impact on their development.
“If it’s stressful for an adult, imagine how stressful this time has been for young children whose entire routine was disturbed,” Cheryse continues. “The Child Tax Credit puts us in a place of peace so that we can be in a better mental state to focus on doing more for our children and not worrying as much about things getting turned off or bills not being paid.”
The expanded Child Tax Credit will help directly alleviate the strain that so many families are experiencing on multiple fronts. Eligible families will receive up to $3,600 per child under age 6 and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17, with half made available to families in advance through six monthly payments and the rest claimed when they file their tax returns.
Many organizations, including our own Educare Learning Network, are proactively reaching out to educate families on the tax filing process and helping them take full advantage of the Child Tax Credit. At Educare Chicago, “staff let us know it was coming, who to contact and offered to assist with the tax filing process,” Cheryse shares.
What does the Child Tax Credit Mean for Your Family?
Our partners at the Educare Learning Network are collecting quotes and stories about the importance of the Child Tax Credit. Tell us what the Child Tax Credit means for your family, your finances and your future.
In addition to household essentials, Cheryse underscored the importance of the payments to help parents meet their children’s educational and developmental needs. “For instance, a family with a child with disabilities can use this money to pay for equipment and materials that aren’t covered by insurance,” she says. “With the extra money being sent, it’s like, ‘Whoa, okay, I can breathe.’”
The Child Tax Credit is one of the critical supports for working families that can and should be made permanent by the passage of the American Families Plan. Other transformative investments included in the plan would help defray the costs of child care and offer families more child care options, two issues families continue to grapple with. Two out of three working parents (63%) and nearly all low-income parents (95%) report having a hard time.
“My personal experience with ParentChild+ will last a lifetime!” Marcella shares her memories as one of many families who benefited from working with an early learning specialist through the ParentChild+ program.
Taylor-Corrine
