Family Interaction and Experiences

It seems that life is at full speed for not only myself but the families enrolled in the Head Start program as well.  It is getting close to Kindergarten registration for the four and five year olds in my classroom and the families are excited and apprehensive as well.  I did ask to meet with a few of the families (during seperate times) to discuss a few questions I had.  I have been so lucky in that all the families are incredibly supportive of my goal that is about to be complete, they say they see the need for trained preschool teachers and only hope that I stay with the Head Start program once I complete my degree; which I have informed them that is my plan.

When I met with the families I had some questions about their prior knowledge of Head Start or a preschool program in general.  We live in a small rural community that does not even have a day care center in our town, the closest centers are located about 10 miles away and they care for children from all over our county that covers approximately a 25 miles radius.  Many of the families enrolled in my program do not consistant transportation so taking their children to day care is not an option.  I was surprised to learn that many of the families knew very little about the Head Start program, only that it was for "poor" families; this is how they described themselves.  I found that somewhat disturbing as well, it was as if they felt their child didn't deserve better than the "poor people" program.  As an employee I know we are so much more than that but for them they did not know better.  As part of our recruitment plan my supervisor is trying to find ways to promote our program and so I asked the parents how they came to be enrolled in the program.  Most answered that they received our flyer in the mail, a few said that the Family Service Worker came to their door, and a few were referred to us through the Deparment of Social Services.  It was interesting to see that none of them answered they had heard about the program through past parents.  I do know that before I was employed with this particular site there had been issues with staff members and CPS reports being made on them.  The few things that have been shared with me about what families did know had to do with these negative reports which occurred almost ten years ago.  Having to defend our program based off past experiences is difficult; especially since I am not from this community and am considered an outsider. 

What I wanted the families to feel confident in doing is supporting the improvements that have been made in staffing and qualifitications.  I asked them to please share the good things that our program has done for them personally with other families that have children that may qualify for our program.  They are our connection to the community, they have the first hand knowledge on what happens in their child's life when they are with us as well as what they are bringing home.  We spoke about various ways that the parents could help in advocating for two full classrooms in my center for next school year; we lost one of them last year and I fear that closing our doors may be more of an option when I am only running 20 students compared to our other sites that have 40 or more.  The families agree that the need is in our community and want to help!  They are going to become part of our recruitement plan; hanging flyers, passing out applications to their friends, and writing letters to the editor of the local newspaper.  They also see that by becoming more involved in the activities at our center they are showing how important engagement truly is.  I have 2 parents that are going to come in a plan at least four more field trips for the remainder of the school year for us.  I also have a group of parents that will work with our Family Service Worker in holding a fundraiser, yet to be determined, to raise money for the field trips as well as for the annual End of Year Celebration.

I don't know if it is the deadline of the school year ending or the successes that they are seeing in their children that have them more willing to participate now; but I am not going to ignore it! 

Meeting with Directors and Specialists

Over these past two weeks I was so lucky to have two of the specialists come to visit my center; the Mental Health and Disabilities Specialist and the Health and Nutrition Specialist.  I had actually requested the Mental Health and Disabilities Specialist so that we could meet with one of my students families to discuss some concerns.  Since last year I have been concerned with a young students development and have shared these with the specialists.  Unfortunately the girls parents have been slower on following through with what they have stated is a concern for them as well.  We have met numerous times to express how the Head Start program can connect the family to the school system but they wanted to go through their pediatrician to address some concerns first.  This student will be entering into kindergarten next school year and I am highly concerned with her ability to be successful without some supports in place.  The questions that I had for the specialists is what would be our next step; I really want this family to feel their child is capable but she will need support.  All of us have a suspicion of her being on the Autism spectrum and although we have seen growth in her development she is still not close to being independent.  When we met with the mother of this child the specialist was able to explain to her the process of trying to get the family connected to the school system.  The student came to me last year at the age of three with an IEP in place for speech concerns.  I am not sure how she did it but she passed the developmental screening that was administered.  This child could not feed herself, had no play or social skills, and would not even sit and focus on any activity that was presented to her.  The specialist explained to me that because she had a passing she was not able to complete another assessment for a full year; which the deadline just passed in the fall.  The importance of having another assessment completed so address a higher age range and expectations was shared with the mom; who was not aware that what the test will be looking for changes as the child gets older.  One great thing that came out of the meeting was a sense of team; we all want to see this child progress even more and by keeping each other informed we are in the right direction.

The Health and Nurtition specialist happened to stop by yesterday to complete a file review.  While she was there we got into a discussion on how the children in the Head Start program have an advantage over those not in a program from our community.  We are in the recruitment phase for next school year and were brainstorming ideas on how we can catch perspective families attention.  I know when I entered into this program I was not aware of just how important a child's dental health was to their development.  I had worked with families that had medical insurance and their children's needs were always met.  Just the dental health of the families and children that we have in our program show how limited their access is.  Our Head Start program has been lucky to have a dental mobile come to our site and do an exam on every child that had not had a currrent dental exam the first five years I have been there.  This is the first year that there has been no funding this but the local dental clinics are beginning to see how dedicated we are and have allowed us to schedule visits with them.  In the past they have declined Medicaid or medical card patients because appointments are often not kept.  Our Family Service Worker has transported 9 children and families to dental appointments so far this year! 

My Head Start program is the only option for parents of children ages 3 to 5.  We do not have any child care centers, only one home based child care provider, and no preschool option in the local elementary school.  In the town next to ours they just brought in a preschool program at the elementary school and they collaborated with our other Head Start site.  I know the children are in my community we just have to show parents how much we can offer them; not just a "free baby sitter".

A challenge that I am finding is that based off past employees and incidences our current program is struggling.  I have had parents tell me that they were not going to send their child until they realized certain past staff members were gone.  I have been here six years now and I am trying to prove myself over employees from ten years ago or longer.  That is difficult in a small community!  The new Site Administrator has lived in this community her entire life and she now understands that we are facing an uphill battle but one we are dedicated to overcoming.  The children deserve it and the families can definitely benefit from it!