Lund ’s Post

What is Family Life Education (FLE)? “FLE methodology is focused on healthy functioning with a broad, inclusive knowledge base and an education/prevention focus using Family Systems Theory and research-based practice with a life course perspective” (Myers-Walls, et al., 2011, 364). The function of services is to assist family groups in attaining education and tools that foster secure family life. Family Life Educators work with individuals and families. Method includes a needs assessment of instructive necessities and milestone plans that encompass family and individual strengths. Family Life Educators work in multiple settings: Nonprofits: Program Coordination or Program Director, Faith-based Programs, Research & Program Evaluation Businesses Industry: Research & Development Related to Children & Families, Market Research, Sales & Marketing Related to Services for Families, Services for Children or Senior Citizens Federal Government/Military: Family Support Services Local Government/Municipalities: Family Support Services, Community or Neighborhood Programs Education/Early Childhood, K-12, Higher Education: Extension Services, Childcare Training, Childcare Assessment, Student Affairs More information on Family Life Education and areas of work are on the PDFs in this post. You can also take a more detailed look at work setting opportunities and additional information about Family Life Education at the National Council on Family Relations website: https://lnkd.in/ghiemQc3. Family Life Educator work falls under the following 10 FLE Content Areas: ·      Families and Individuals in Social Contexts ·      Internal Dynamics of Families ·      Human Growth and Development Across the Lifespan ·      Human Sexuality ·      Interpersonal Relationships ·      Family Resource Management ·      Parent Education and Guidance ·      Family Law and Public Policy ·      Professional Ethics and Practice ·      Family Life Education Methodology

Pasadena City College offers familial support in their 2-year-old Family Resource Center. The center focuses on supporting the family of the child. By offering dual play and study spaces, as well as free goodies like clothing, diapers, and toys, the Family Resource Center strives to create a homely presence on campus. Why it matters: Statewide, 1 in 10 California community college students are parenting, and about 13% of the students who file financial aid check off that they have dependents. On PCC’s campus, 1,000 of the 23,608 students self-identify as parents. Background: A $500,000 federal earmark from Rep. Judy Chu and the U.S. Department of Education funded the creation of the Family Resource Center in 2022. This allowed the college to have a student-oriented hub, different from the Child Development Center — which is where students can drop off their dependents for childcare. 🔗 https://ow.ly/1af350T1AWt ✍️ & 📸 Cassandra Nava

Many parents with children of different ages often find themselves going around to multiple services from pre-K to kindergarten in order for their children to access early education. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham listened to the stories of parents and their needs at the inaugural early childhood summit on Wednesday, bringing together over 100 lawmakers, officials and stakeholders across the state to answer the following question: How can we ensure quality and accessible early childhood programs for families in the state? Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gTBgihg3

Who are we? We want the young living in Shelby County to grow up in a community of opportunity! For most Shelby County families, finding a high-quality early learning opportunity is not just a desire but a pressing need. Parents are in search of safe environments with loving and trusted caregivers where their children can learn and where their whole family is welcomed. However, the reality is that accessing these opportunities is a challenge for too many families. The facts are stark-Shelby County’s families urgently need more accessible and higher quality care. There are 3 main reasons for this: 1. Childcare and early learning are in limited supply, meaning options can be hard to find and even harder to afford. Nearly 60% of the county’s children are not yet in kindergarten and need care that is not available. 2. The availability of licensed, high-quality care is also limited. Only 40% of the County’s licensed facilities have Paths to Quality Levels 3 or 4-designated seats. 3. Childcare is not affordable for many Hoosier Families. The average cost of the County’s childcare tuition ($7,048.00) is similar to one year's tuition at a public university. Early Learning Shelby County works to support high-quality early learning and healthy development for Shelby County's youngest children, from birth to five, by championing policies, promoting innovative and evidence-based practices, and building public will. If you want to learn more about how we’re working to bring affordable, accessible, quality childcare to Shelby County families, be sure to follow us here and check out https://lnkd.in/gtdS2rWU for more updates. 

“Home-based child care is a fact of life in the U.S. On any given day, millions of children spend their days—sometimes their nights—in family child care settings. The decision for a child to attend a family child care home is influenced by multiple factors, but despite their popularity among parents, such homes rarely find their place among state-funded pre-K programs. Given the number of states that now realize the urgency of expanding their preschool offerings, and the challenge they uniformly face in meeting demand, why have cities and states been slow on the uptake of this valuable option and what it would take to remedy the situation? What would it look like for family child care homes to be part of states’ publicly funded high-quality pre-K system? And what might that cost? Such policy questions concerning 3- and 4-year-olds are precisely up the alley of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), whose annual State of Preschool Yearbook has been a rich resource for tracking state-funded preschool efforts for two decades.” https://lnkd.in/eW-2NJj3

When we think of preschool, we often think of an extension of elementary school moved down to a younger child. Serving families with young children requires a diversity of settings and structures. Early childhood education must be more than just our standard model of school pushed down to a younger child. This article addresses the role of Family Child Care settings in the early childhood ecosystem in rural Vermont. I found the concluding paragraph a call to action to enhance our support of home-based early childhood education and the educators who serve in those settings: "What’s more, this solution doesn’t require building new preschool wings onto aging school buildings or training up a new cadre of preschool teachers. What it does require, says Patterson, is an “innovative and inclusive view of family child care homes as centers of learning, and of qualified caregivers who operate them as early childhood educators,” that is, pre-K teachers deserving of all the same support and salary afforded to school- or center-based pre-K programs." https://lnkd.in/gZHbwVHt

Exciting News! 🗞️   Michigan's Roadmap toward PreK for All is paving the way for inclusive early childhood education. In a recent Second Wave Media article, Jeff Capizzano and Frances Einterz from Policy Equity Group, alongside partners, shed light on the roadmap's aims.    📚The roadmap supports an ambitious goal: enroll 75% of Michigan's four-year-olds in PreK programs by 2027. Jeff emphasizes that while the recommendations set the stage, State leaders and policymakers will need to take the next steps to implement the vision.   For parents, the cost of PreK can be overwhelming. How do we make it affordable without compromising quality? The roadmap tackles this challenge head-on, too, ensuring affordability without sacrificing the freedom of choice for parents and providers. 👩👧👦   Frances shared in the article that home-based providers are eager to be part of this initiative, echoing what she heard in listening sessions. Their inclusion would ensure that the PreK for All programs truly represent all voices and meet the diverse needs of Michigan's families.   Read more about the roadmap's recommendations and the voices shaping Michigan's early childhood education landscape! 👇 https://lnkd.in/gDGsXPVN   W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Southern Imaginations, LLC #EarlyChildhoodEducation #PreKForAll #InclusiveEducation #MichiganEducation

The Center for American Progress has great new factsheet on the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five program with examples of how states are using this funding to improve data and support young children! https://lnkd.in/e27Nhntp

Mourning the Tragic Loss of Young Lives in Jos: A Call for Urgent Child Safety Measures in Schools Today, our hearts are heavy with grief and sorrow as we mourn the tragic and unnecessary loss of young lives i Jos, Plateau State. On Friday morning, July 12, a school building collapsed while students were in class at Saint Academy. Twenty-two children lost their lives, and at least 132 were injured. This heartbreaking incident is a stark reminder of the dire need for child safety in schools. As a Child Development and Safety Expert, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of ensuring the safety of our children in educational environments. The fact remains that many of the tragedies that befall the Nigerian child are preventable. Why Preventable Tragedies Occur in Our Schools: ✅ Government Negligence: Proper attention is not paid to the standards of operation and safety of schools. Investment in safeguarding is not considered a top priority. ✅ Corruption in Government Agencies: In the past, school inspections were rigorous and thorough. Today, corruption has weakened these processes, allowing unsafe conditions to persist. ✅ Greed of School Owners: Education should be about empowering children, not merely a money-making venture. Unsafe building practices to save costs put the lives of children at risk. ✅ Corrupt Builders: The use of poor-quality materials and compromised building practices due to financial incentives lead to weak structures that cannot withstand pressure. Steps to Ensure Child Safety in Schools: ☑️ Strict Government Oversight: Regular and thorough inspections of school facilities must be enforced, with strict penalties for non-compliance. ☑️ Transparency and Accountability: Government agencies and school owners must be held accountable for maintaining safe environments for children. ☑️ Quality Construction Practices: Builders must adhere to high standards of construction, using quality materials and ensuring structures are safe and sound. ☑️ Community Involvement: Parents, teachers, and community members must be vigilant and advocate for the safety and well-being of children in schools. ☑️ Investment in Safeguarding: Adequate resources must be allocated to ensure schools are safe havens for learning, free from preventable hazards. This tragedy is a painful reminder that we must all work together to protect our children. We owe it to them to provide safe and nurturing environments where they can learn and grow without fear. Let this be a call to action for all stakeholders to prioritize child safety in schools and prevent such needless losses in the future. Dear young ones, our loving thoughts shall accompany your souls. May your families and communities be granted the fortitude to bear the devastating loss! #earlychildhoodeducation #safeguarding #ChildProtection #SchoolSafety #JosSchooltragedy

“Partnering with parents is a potent school improvement strategy…” This from today’s article in ‘The Savvy Principal…’ “Make Familes the Centre of School Culture The gist: We all love a turnaround story. That’s exactly what happened at Adlai E. Stevenson Elementary School in Michigan. One of the lowest performing schools in the district with dwindling enrollment just a few years ago, Stevenson now has a waitlist of students outside its attendance zone who are eager to enroll. What’s behind this comeback? A principal’s unwavering belief that families have to be central to everything the school does. What else you need to know: The concept of “community schools” isn’t new. But Stevenson has fully embraced the model with its robust range of services—affordable childcare, free groceries and counseling—to families that need support. Students show “significant” improvement in behavior, attendance, and academic achievement in this one-stop services model. For principal Tonya Hickman, this process of improvement started with families. “Many parents have had negative experiences in school, so we’re breaking down those barriers.” Takeaways: Hickman started with efforts that helped build trust and relationships. Greeting parents in the parking lot in the mornings. Taking walks with them. Sending home tools to help their kids study. She used those small changes to snowball to bigger ones: Family resource room. A section of the school’s library was cordoned off for background-checked family members to use. The space is stocked with snacks and provides free WiFi. Helping parents help themselves. Stevenson staff regularly help parents and caregivers find lawyers, housing, employment, and other resources to navigate challenges like eviction, food insecurity, and lost jobs. Supporting families = supporting students. Tutoring support. Tutors come in three times a week to improve reading levels in students who are falling behind. Parents are kept in the loop through webinars and meetings that stress the importance of attendance to meet learning goals. To pull off this level of family engagement isn’t simple. You must be aware of overextending staff. You will need consistent financial support to run after-school childcare programs, or counseling for parents. But the payoffs are worth it.”