There are several federal or national organizations that do great advocacy work for children and families. Zero to Three was founded in 1977 with the mission "to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life"(www.zerotothree.org, 2013). Zero to Three supports infant and toddler development by supporting learning, advocating for families, and making policy recommendations. They also have a strong resource area for teachers and families, which features a newsletter that contains information about what parents may be seeing developmentally and how they can foster that development. One position that they have open that I would be interested in is their Senior Writer/Training Specialist position, which is responsible for planning and over-seeing conferences, peer review and editing, and provide workshops and large trainings for staff. To achieve this position one must have strong knowledge of Head Start policies, effective written and oral skills, and strong knowledge of early childhood development especially infant and toddler development.
Another national organization is the Children's Defense Fund whose mission is defined as an effort to "leave no child behind by ensuring that every child has a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start, and a moral start"(www.childrensdefensefund.org, 2013). The Children's Defense Fund is an advocacy group for the whole child not just for education and care purposes. Currently, there are no positions open that I would be qualified for.
The final organization is the Division for Early childhood, which promotes policies and advances for evidence-based practices that support families and ensure the optimal development of young children who have or are at-risk for delays (www.dec-sped.org). They work to ensure that children with special needs, disabilities, or are gifted/talented are receiving the programs they need to be successful. The program only has a core group of staff; however, takes recommendations and publishes articles from early childhood professionals. To contribute one must have knowledge of early childhood and special education.
Resources:
Zero To Three www.zerotothree.org
Children's Defense Fund www.childrensdefensefund.org
The Division for Early Childhood www.dec-sped.org
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Joseph,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your resources. The Division for Early Childhood is an organization that I was not familiar with. This will be a great organization for me because I want to open my own center to include children with disabilities. I have been using the Zero To Three and Children's Defense Fund throughout my studies at Walden.
Thanks again for sharing,
Catherine
Joseph,
ReplyDeleteThe organizations you chose are very interesting. I like what the Children's Defense Fund stands for and represents. If you had your choice of possible positions with the organization, what would you choose?
Joseph,
ReplyDeleteI am interested in helping families of children who have developmental delays. My son has Autism, and if he would not have been in foster care, I do not know how I would have gained access to resources to help him. Families want the best for their children even if they don’t know how to provide it for them. I want to be a part of the solution in getting people what they need. Your post enlightened me to where I can start. Good post!
Hi Joseph, I also chose Zero To Three as an organization of interest. I like that Zero To Three is an organization that values the importance of early childhood education from any aspect, weather at home or school and offers support to families, parents and educators to provide the best possible foundation for all children. The Children's Defense Fund is another organization I am also interested in. It is likely that we may cross paths again in a community of practice sometime...hopefully in the near future. I look forward to it!
ReplyDeleteDear Joseph, thanks for sharing three great organizations, they do so much for their beginning. The one I connect with is Zero to Three, and I do believe we have to give our young children a help up to give them a great start. Love the slideshow very cute. I agree we most be advocates for all children. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing! The organizations you mentioned are extremely valuable resources for children and their families as well as early childhood professionals. I found the Children’s Defense Fund to be an organization that I will add to my communities of practice that will assist me addressing my challenge of creating an anti-bias learning environment for children and their families. The mission for the Children Defense Fund to "leave no child behind by ensuring that every child has a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start, and a moral start"("Children's Defense Fund (CDF) : Health Care Coverage for All of America's Children, Ending Child Poverty, Child Advocacy Programs", n.d.) correlates with the goals for creating an anti-bias learning environment that encourages all children to thrive and become life-long learners.
ReplyDeleteReference
Children's Defense Fund (CDF): Health Care Coverage for All of America's Children, Ending Child Poverty, Child Advocacy Programs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.childrensdefense.org/