Time Well Spent

I am very honored to have participated in the Early Childhood Program because I learned so much throughout the 2 years that I have spent with my professors and peers. Here are the three things I have learned:

             1.     Never put a child or a family in a stereotype nor become bias. As an African-American woman, I have had the experience of going through that and I have learned to not put others in categories because it can be offensive. Never put others in a box due to ignorance.

             2.     Just because a child misbehaves at school, does not mean that they are bad children in general. You will never know what children or people are going through behind closed doors. The child’s family may not have the resources that they need to allow the child to be successful in school such as food or transportation to attend PTA meetings. Find the reason behind a child’s behavior.

             3.     There are so many organizations and opportunities out there for early childhood professionals and parents to get the most out of their early childhood experience. There are so many resources out there that can help us further in what we are lacking in our own situation such as parenting resources or professional workshops to help others. I am thankful for being exposed to these different organizations.

       My long term goal is to become a child and family advocate. I will work my hardest to gain more experience through volunteer opportunities and to get training within this field. I want to take all that I have learned throughout this program and to use it as an advantage to better myself and provide excellent service to children and families. Thank you so much to my professor and my peers for being a great encouragement and for enlightening me on things that I didn’t know myself. I learned so much from you all. God bless you all and good luck on your future journey!

 

If anyone would like to keep in contact:

Email Address: angelboone6@gmail.com

* I would give my phone number but if you would like that, I can email that information to you*

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The three organizations that I chose were Save the Children, UNICEF, and UNESCO. Save Our Children is an organization that protects children around the world in any crisis. They hope to provide children with a healthy start, to transform their lives, and changing the course of their future. The UNICEF organization works to attain sustainable development goals in various partnerships with people to help children and families. UNESCO organization’s goals are almost the same as UNICEF, they work to protect those in human rights, mutual respect, and poverty alleviation. I like these three organizations because they work hard to ensure that the families are trained and helped well enough to sustain their own lives and work to protect children.

Job Titles

                 1)      Family Service Coordinator- Provides support services for Head Start families, assisting parents in learning and using community resources, work with parents on goal-setting, and encouraging parent involvement in their child’s education. The person must have an associate degree in Social Work or related Family/Human Service field. Strong interpersonal, communication, and organizational skills. Knowledge of the basics of working with preschool children. Keep information on children confidential. (Save the Children)

                2)      Child Protection Specialist- Supports the development and preparation of the Child Protection programs/projects. Must have an advanced university degree in international development, human rights, psychology, international law, and other social science fields. 5 years of professional experience in social development planning and management in child protection and other related areas at the international level. Experience in supporting policy dialogue and development and writing advocacy briefs and policy. Fluency in English. (UNICEF)

                3)      Child Protection Consultant- Assist the Child Protection program in development and finalization Program Strategy Note and Theory of Change through a consultative process of engagement with key stakeholders. You must have an advanced degree in social sciences, law, social work, or a related field. Demonstrated experience in producing high quality documents in areas of child protection, law, and social welfare systems. Excellent writing and speaking skills in English, ability to work up under pressure and with limited time frames. Knowledge of Rights of the Child and Child Protection principles. (UNICEF)

References

Children, S. t. (2016). Save the Children Jobs. Retrieved from Save the Children: http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6226565/k.5717/Save_the_Children_Jobs.htm

UNESCO. (2016). About Us: Introducing UNESCO. Retrieved from UNESCO: http://en.unesco.org/about-us/introducing-unesco

UNICEF. (2016). Employment at UNICEF. Retrieved from UNICEF: 70 Years for Every Child: http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

The three national/federal organizations that appeal to me are Child Welfare Information Gateway, Foster Kinship, and the Children’s Defense Fund. Child Welfare Information Gateway is a website that caters to those who are grandparents and other relatives for children. This website has a few resources that help grandparents and kinship families to understand the child welfare system, how it works and the services they receive, and steps on how to parent a child that child in extreme cases. The Foster Kinship website works to empower kinship caregivers and builds their capability to provide the safest, most stable, and permanent placements for children in their care. Kinship also has a family advocacy and Case Management program, support groups, and kinship family events. The last organization that I came across was the Children’s Defense Fund. CDF has a Kinship navigator program that helps the grandparents or other relative caregivers to understand the ins and outs of the child welfare system. They also have information about early child care and education programs for the families and children.

Some of the jobs that appeal to me are a college professor that require you to have the skills of advance education in child development and age-appropriate programming strong analytical skills, and the ability to communicate clearly. College professors also have a Ph.D or Ed.D. Another job that I saw interesting was a government official. The government official has a knowledge of a topic area, good writing, ability to work with others, and great communication skills. In these positions, people are held responsible for the well-being of children and families. According to what position you may have, a minimum of an associate’s degree and experience is a must. Working for the government involves placement from a civil service exam. The third job that I am interested in is an early intervention specialist. Early interventionist must have 3 hours of college credit in early childhood special education or Early Childhood development.

References

Family, F. K. (2016). Kinship Resource Center. Retrieved from Foster Kinship: Help Keep Home in the Family: http://www.fosterkinship.org/programs/kinshipnavigator/

Fund, C. D. (2016). Kinship Families. Retrieved from Childrens Defense Fund: http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy/welfare/

Gateway, C. W. (2016). Kinship Caregivers and the Child Welfare System. Retrieved from Child Welfare Information Gateway: https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f-kinshi/

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

3 Early Childhood organizations in North Carolina

         1.      The Carousel Center for Abused children. This is a center is a non-profit organization in my area that provides a child-friendly environment for abused and neglected children. They also support child abuse prevention efforts in the southeastern parts of North Carolina.

         2.      Child and Family Services is a place that improves the lives of children through a partnership of community resources that promotes strong families and advocates for change.

         3.      Smart Start is an organization that is similar to Head Start. They have a common concern for and commitment to the welfare and success of children between the ages of birth to 5 years old. They also fund services in the areas of health, family support, and early childhood care and education.

         The three types of jobs that I am interested in are a family advocate/family support specialist, Kindergarten teacher, and a Developmental specialist in pediatric development. A family advocate or a family support specialist has to have a bachelor’s degree in psychology, counseling, social work, or child development. Three years of at least experience in child abuse, excellent verbal and written communication skills, understand the dynamics of child abuse, legal and child welfare system. You also have to collaborate and interact well with team members from various disciplines such as law enforcement, medical, mental, Child Protective Services, and prosecutors. To be a kindergarten teacher in North Carolina you have to have a Bachelor’s or master’s degree in elementary education and also a license a birth-kindergarten license. To be a developmental specialist, you have to have a bachelor’s degree in Birth-Kindergarten education, early childhood special education, Child development, family studies, etc. Must have two years of experience on early intervention developmental specialist. They also must be eligible for Infant Toddler Family Specialist certification.

References

Center, C. &. (2016). Home. Retrieved from Children and Family Services Center: http://www.childrenfamily.org/#

Center, T. C. (2016). Home. Retrieved from The Carousel Center: http://carouselcenter.org/

Hospital, B. C. (2016). Job Description. Retrieved from Oracle: https://psappprd1.is.wfubmc.edu:8022/psp/eppro/EMPLOYEE/B_NAV_HR/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL?HRS_PERSON_ID=0&PAGE=HRS_CE_JOB_DTL&Action=A&JobOpeningId=18084&SiteId=1

Indeed. (2016). Family Advocate. Retrieved from Grayson County Children's Advocacy Center: http://www.indeed.com/cmp/Grayson-County-Children's-Advocacy-Center/jobs/Family-Advocate-efc4229d1667a077?q=Child+Advocate

Start, S. (2016). What is Smart Start. Retrieved from New Hanover County Smart Start: http://www.newhanoverkids.org/about/what-is-smart-start/

Profile of a Volunteer

      A couple of years ago I volunteered as a mentor of a one week program called Safety Town back in 2006. It was sponsored by the Greensboro Police Department. I was 16 and my brother was the one who signed me up for it because he worked for the department and wanted to put me in something meaningful for the summer. During the program they had children to learn about safety and the many jobs that help to keep people safe. The EMT and fire department came to greet the children and teach the importance of safety. Afterwards we went over what they learned and play on a hand built town where they rode tricycles as if they were riding through a town with streetlights, roads, and buildings the kids sizes. I gained some leadership skills from doing this program. I learned how to manage children for the first time and to build positive relationships with the children. I was so good at the volunteer work that the children wanted me to babysit them. I finally saw my love for children and decided to continue to find a career in not only working with children but to be able to advocate for them when no one else will.

Using Social Media

Some of my favorite social media tools are Facebook and YouTube. I do read blogs but that is very rare these days unless I find something that catches my attention. These days everyone has a Facebook page and through this social media, people are able to voice their opinions and to post videos on things that interest them. Advocacy work is important when it comes to Facebook because you can put whatever issue that you feel is relevant to you. Other people can then see your page and comment on your concerns. Facebook allows you to reach out to thousands of people and through that, you are able to make petitions and more quickly reach elected officials who more than likely have a page of their own. I have had experiences where the school that I attended as an undergrad was on the verge of closing. So on our school Facebook page, a petition was put out to save our school. It was pretty awesome and we managed to save it through that and other advocacy tools. YouTube is also a great advocacy tool because you can make videos and advertise the issues that are going on in early childhood. With YouTube you can also reach millions of people through your advertisements. I remember the Kony 2012 video and how that went viral really quickly and reached millions of people about human rights in Uganda. Blogs and newsletters are great as well to advocate because of the many stories and experiences that people tell on the issues that they discuss. All of these tools are very good when advocating. I will be sure to use all of them to reach out to more people on the issues of early childhood.

Advocacy Through Advertisement

March of Dimes has been advertising for years about the issues of premature babies. March of Dimes fights premature birth and uses research to find answers to the various questions about this issue.  March of Dimes works with the local communities and has global programs that helps to support babies everywhere. Every year, especially in the month of March there are activities that people have locally to help raise money to support the research and advocacy of this organization. March of Dimes also has televised advertisement that helps to reach more people. As much advertising this organization does, they are able to reach millions of people around the work to help advocate for premature births.

Another advertisement campaigns that stood out to me are autism awareness and childhood asthma. The autism awareness topic teaches us to become more aware of autism and the results of autism research. It teaches us that early detection and intervention can give great improvements over a lifetime. Low diagnosis among low income families, as well as African American and Hispanics is higher than the general public. There has been a 30 percent increase in the past two years regarding the increase of autism in children. The Ad council encourages children of young children to visit the Autism Speaks website and to learn about the various ways to help their child with this condition. Advertisment in this advocacy uses celebrities with children with autism to tell people about their own personal experience and to tell about the importance of early detection and intervention.                                                                     

References

Council, A. (2016). Autism Awareness. Retrieved from Ad Council: Inspiring Change, Improving Lives: http://www.adcouncil.org/Our-Campaigns/Health/Autism-Awareness

Dimes, M. o. (2016). Retrieved from March of Dimes: A Fighting Chance For Every Baby: http://www.marchofdimes.org/index.aspx