What Resonates With You About Early Childhood Public Policy and Advocacy?

To be truthfully honest I had no clue what this Specialization was going to hold for me. I knew that I wanted to go into the early childhood field, but did not want to be a teacher in the classroom as a part of a school system. I have always aspired to be an educator, but little did I know in what form. I started as early childhood teacher in a child care program. I then I did personalized early childhood as a nanny in the home for four years. I then finished my undergrad in child development and said that the place to be is in administration of a program. This way I will have the control over how the programs focus and response to the parents and community will go.  I want to be the person that makes the difference in the life of a child, and I was going to do so by influence those who come in contact with them daily. As I started my new career as an Child Care Resource and Referral Specialist I realized that it is not the people who come in direct contact with the children who have a say in the outcomes of their life. Then I started to see how rules and regulations began to affect the childhood community and the barriers and limitations that were placed on them. This is when I came to the realization that I was the person who wanted to advocate for children and the professional working with these children on a daily biases.

I think advocates are essential in the early childhood community because someone who has a broader view of the field can help policymakers understand the perspectives that those working in the field have on the issues they face. I have started to say that it is unfair that people who sit in these offices and make laws, policies, procedures, regulations for situations that some have never faced. I am all in favor of guidelines and rules but sometimes things that are imposed have unrealistic qualifications. It’s along the lines of asking a child to stand up and walk and they cannot even support their own body weight yet.

I hope to learn about how policy are adopted, adapted, and executed to the different environments and agencies. Three professional goals will be that one I want to get a better understanding of how true advocacy is demonstrated. I think I have only reached the tip of the iceberg. Two I want to be able to create policies that are fair but, still hold a level of caliber to other standards that are put in place. Then finally I want to be able to give an account that is truly based on experience and knowledge as to why certain policies exist. I have always been able to give a general account of “well of course because health and safety is a priority.” However a more in depth reasoning would be better to explain.