Advocacy for an individual child or family often starts
because a teacher or other childhood professionals recognizes a child or family
is in crisis and seek support for them (Kieff, 2009). Having young children of
my own and becoming very aware of my children's needs heightened my awareness
of the needs of other children.
Advocacy
at the micro level is important for the teachers working with children to be
able to enhance their relationship with children and their families and be
aware of their needs and look for ways they could help to meet their needs. In
the process of advocating for children and their families under their care, it’s
possible for them to include children that they don’t know.
I think in
order to be a community leader on early childhood issues one would need to be
partner with the people in the community perhaps to know what is going on and
what their needs are as related to children and families in the community. Also
one needs to have respect for the members of the community and be able to
communicate effectively with them for mobilization.
It is very
important to have passion for children and families to be a state leader. One
needs to be ready to work with other organizations for collaboration in order
to be able to serve the people very well. It is also important to have a
partnership with individual at the local level.
I see
information as power, knowledge and security that is very important in
mobilizing others. This could be done through website, newsletter, and workshop
and so on in order to let the people know one’s mind and be well informed about
the issue at hand.
As a leader advocating for children and their families one
needs to have passion for children and their families, develop a good relation with
teachers, the individual in state advisory board which is comprised of
representatives from various state and local agencies that work on early
childhood issues.
Reference:
Kieff, (2009) Informed Advocacy in Early Childhood Care
and Education: Making a Difference for Young Children and Families.
Pearson. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey Columbus, Ohio.
Bisi,
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how we become immediate advocates once we become mothers. I love how you put that security is very important in mobilizing others. I really did not think of security assisting with that matter, but I can see it now. Thanks for sharing your post Bisi! Always nice to read your blog!
Bisis, I concur with your first statement. Advocacy can start off with a teacher who sees the need. When I first taught preschoolers with special needs, I then realize all the changes that needed to be implemented. Advocacy starts as an essential idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing a great blog this week!
Bisi,
ReplyDeleteI liked how you said" I see information as power, knowledge and security that is very important in mobilizing others". You listed several examples that were good options as well. One other great resource is the use of social media. I am connected to several agencies/organizations/groups that post information relevant to the field. I find it is a great and quick learning opportunity as I usually check Facebook every day anyways.
Thanks,
Danielle