Nobody makes a conscious decision to be a bad parent. People often just lack the resources or skills needed, they encounter other barriers, or make bad decisions along the way that result in the inability to effectively parent a child, more often than not perpetuating their disadvantage for yet another generation. Disadvantage allows poor social determinants to take hold. To break the cycle that is a root cause of today’s healthcare costs, we must find ways to finance programs that will inoculate disadvantaged children against poor social determinants.
While we can’t mandate a certain degree of financial stability, competency, and commitment to fully engage in the art/science of child-rearing before issuing a license to conceive, we can build upon the thinking behind models such as the Perry Preschool and Abecedarian Projects, as well as Healthy Start and Regional Intervention Program (RIP) concepts and their successes in an attempt to break the cycle of disadvantage and its role in the health of our nation. Public Health should focus on a continuum of services that begins during prenatal care with a needs assessment. Based on assessment scoring related to socio-economic status, potential for cross-generational determinants and other factors, at-risk families would be auto-enrolled in these types of programs. Healthy Start would be mandatory for all at-risk families, with progression through other services as ongoing screening dictates, using healthcare informatics in conjunction with public health, welfare, and education data to stratify families into specific social determinant risk categories for prevention and intervention services. When Little Johnny is taken to the doctor for his third ear infection in two months, th...
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Educare: creating comprehensive early care and education centers. (2014) CLASP Policy Solutions that Work for Low Income People. Retrieved on 2/22/14 from http://www.clasp.org/babiesinchildcare/state/educare-creating-comprehensive-early-care-and-education-centers
Heckman, J. J. (2012). Promoting social mobility. (cover story). Boston Review, 14-34.
Maher, E., Zulliger, K., Marcynszy, L., Wilson, D., Carroll, C.L., & Calpin, C. (2013). Making the Case for Early Childhood Intervention in Child Welfare. (2013). Casey Family Programs. Retrieved on 2/21/14 from http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/pdf/EarlyChildhoodIntervention.pdf
Pay now, break out of poverty later. (2007). Prevention Action. Retrieved 2/21/14 from http://www.preventionaction.org/what-works/pay-now-break-out-poverty-later
Health needs are met due to the program’s emphasis on early detection of medical problems. Each child in Head Start becomes involved in a health program. The health program covers immunizations, medical, dental, and mental services (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2002). Immunizations are ...
In fiscal year 2009, the latest year for which data is available from the Administration for Children and Families (2010), the home to the Office of Head Start within the Department of Health and Human Services had an enrollment of 904,153, of which 3% were five-year-olds or older, 51% were four-year-olds, 46% were three-year-olds, and 10% were under three years of age. Children three and under are part of what is known as Early Head Start, an extension of the program that serves the youngest children. The Administration for Children and Families further disclosed that, in fiscal year 2010, 39.9% of children enrolled in Head Start were white, 30% were African-American or Black, and 35.9% were Latino. The sum of the...
In recent years, the number of children whose families fall under the line of poverty has risen at an alarming rate. Crosson-Tower (2013) postulated a reason for this increase when she said, “The recent weakening economy, a higher unemployment rate, unprecedented numbers of home foreclosures and a decline in the safety net for children and their families have resulted in a gradual continuing increase in children living in extreme poverty” (p. 57). Apparently, nearly every aspect of the United States’ crumbling economy affects a family’s ability to meet basic needs. The rise in single parent, mother headed families has not helped poverty statistics because of the lower earning potential of women. A major reason so many children liv...
Cook, Selig, Wedge, and Gohn-Baube (1999) stated that an essential part of the country’s public health agenda is to improve access to prenatal care, particularly for economically disadvantaged women. I agree with this statement because access to care is very important for the outcome of a healthy mother and child. Improving access to prenatal care for disadvantaged women will not only save lives but also lighten the high financial, social, and emotional costs of caring for low weight babies. Some of the barriers that these women face are mainly structural where the availability of care is limited; the cost of care is a financial burden; and the time to seek care is problematic due to being single mothers working more than one job (Lia-Hoagberb, 1990). Additionally, there is the issue of prenatal care being delivered differently depending on one’s race. A study found that White mothers delivering ve...
But, there is hope: a loving, supportive environment that encourages children to grow into themselves. Preschool. Government programs are in place to help low-income families offset the costs, and national agencies provide multidimensional support for preschoolers and their families. Seven hours in a classroom doesn’t fix the problems at home. Rather, these programs are designed to help low-income families through a multi-faceted approach, attacking several issues in one mighty blow (Olson, Ceballo, and Park 427). These programs offer a variety of resources, including parenting classes, stress management courses, family counseling, and nutrition education. Through these programs, the entire community is assuming responsibility for taking care of its children. After all, it takes a village to raise a child.
Lee, B. G. (2008). Early Childhood Education: The Early Years. California : National Social Science Press .
According to the Children Defense Fund 1 in 13 children will live in extreme poverty in the United States and a family of four is extremely poor if their income is below 10,000 or half of the official poverty line. (http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-data-repository/census/census-2007-child-poverty-data.pdf,). Despite being wealthy the U.S. . has the highest rate of child poverty among all the other countries. Poor children are more likely to go hungry and are less likely to be read to during their early years. They are less likely to have health insurance and needed care. Poor children are more likely to start school behind their affluent peers and are less likely to graduate high school. They are more likely to grow up as poor adults and become involved in the criminal justice system. A family of four's annual income must be lower than 23,000 to reach child poverty. (http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/state-of-americas-children/documents/2014-SOAC_child-poverty.pdf(). Children in single parent homes were four times more likely to be poor than children in two adult families. Almost 70 percent of all children live with two parents.(http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-data.) The south has the highest child poverty rate with 1 in 4 children compared to 1 in 5 children in the rest of the country. Growing up in child poverty can be a major effect on a healthy development for a child. Poverty and stress about finances can have an effect on children's cognitive development and their ability to learn. It can contribute to behavioral problems, social and emotional problems, and poor health. Living in poverty affects how a chil...
Decker, C. A., Decker, J. R., Freeman, N. K., & Knopf, H. T. (2009). Planning and Administering Early Childhood Programs. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
.... (2013). Early childhood poverty and adult achievement, employment and health. Family Matters, (93), 27-35.
Reynolds, A. J. (2000). Success in early intervention: The Chicago child parent centers. Lincoln, Neb: University of Nebraska Press.
There are many things to look for in an infant/toddler program. Being able to understand the child’s needs is what makes a great program for an infant or toddler. The five most important components when looking for a program are: the safety for the children, the environment around the whole facility, the staff’s qualifications, the teacher to child ratio, and the program’s curriculum. Programs with staff that are caring is also very important to the young children. These are important because these components will help the child to become more independent and aware as he or she grows older in the program.
The modern early childhood curriculum refers to the experiences gathered throughout a child’s infancy and beyond. It incorporates everyday interactions with family members within a wide spectrum of environments. Such interactions can be spontaneous or structured however, it is important that they are established within a supportive, safe and nurturing setting in order for the child to flourish in terms of their mental and physical ability ( O’Hagen,and Smith (1998). We refer to such a curriculum as Child centered as equal emphasis must be made on the child’s learning through out infancy as it is within a formal education setting.
Programme planning is a vital sector in diverse early childhood education (ECE) service to provide quality education and care for young children. There are many ways we could plan things. The planning will link to the document of desirable of objectives (DOPs), Te Whariki and the licensing criteria which provide by the government. Planning in ECE cycle has no beginning and no end; it is a continued cycle day after day, week after week and year after year. Play is basic element to learn and develop in child’s life.
Several studies of early intervention programs have found long-term positive effects on children’s cognitive development and academic achievement that last until the third or fourth grade, and even longer into adolescence and adulthood for broader indicators of school success, such as retention in grade, special education placement, total years of education, and intellectual functioning.9-15 These early intervention programs were generally high quality, very intensive, model demonstration programs, and while these studies clearly show lasting positive effects of providing such programs in the preschool years, they do not reflect the typical experiences of most children in child care. A second area of research has examined the effects of the typical community child care programs utilized by families, which may vary widely in the quality of experiences provided. More specifically, substantial research literature has developed over the past two decades examining the effects of preschool child care quality on children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development. Research studies have included child care programs selected from those existing within the local communities sampled, as opposed to the model demonstration programs included in
Early childhood education plays a key role in a child’s academic development because he or she learns soft skills, job skills, and develop positive traits. Preschool is not like kindergarten, but instead a stepping-stone that prepares young students for the years of schooling they will have later in life. As more schools began to open families wanted to be able to verify that programs would benefit and protect their children. In response, the National Association for the Education of Young Children was made to help families find the best care for their children, by providing the early childhood educators with training and ensuring the quality of children’s daily experiences. (“NAEYC”5).