My Role as an Advocate

My community does not have information about resources that can help improve their lives. For instance, I know a child who has asthma and is struggling in elementary school, he always mentions that he hates school. Most children in my community are all struggling in school and do not have high quality support for children from elementary, middle and high school even college. In the summer most of these children lost ground with their peers. I think that teachers, educators and parents should be accountable in their dealings with children in order to give them the best that they deserve. Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future. Quote from John. F. Kennedy. In serving the best interest of children, we serve the best interests of all humanity. Quote from Carol Bellamy.

It is essential to advocate effort in the best interest of families by improving education, income and health of people in my community. I would like to advocate for children to have quality education, provide food, health, transportation, shelter for families and also give them opportunities to be employed and to earn good living. Other ways to foster the well being of children and their families are through socializing and collaborating with health and nutrition professionals, inviting “a mental health professional who can volunteer to speak to community children to learn conflict-resolution skills as well as ways to prevent bullying during after school programs (Kieff, 2009).

As a community leader on the early childhood issues I would focus my attention on children’s rights, supporting, training and educating parents on the needs to become effective parents. Communities, parents and teachers in the neighborhood need to be ware of how policies are developed for children. In a community where children are failing in schools, leaders, parents and advocates need to come together to solve the problem. Failure enables people to understand what they need to do differently. An advocate takes a stand to spread the word, and creates visibility for the issue. Advocates often testify before congressional bodies regarding legislation that is important for the well being of young children and their families (Kieff, 2009 p.80). In building communities there should be collaboration between parents and support for multiracial children and their families. "There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves" Author unknown. The legislative process in the state allows early childhood educators to come up with programs that need to be implemented and how it will impact the lives of people in the community.

            The strategies for mobilizing others in an early childhood field is by networking with other groups, hosting events and working with the media.

            My advice to someone who wants to advocate for the interest of young children and their families is being able to voice out children’s rights to community groups. The advocate should be familiar with and know the topic of her interest from many angles. She should network with other organizations and locate the people who can help her advance the cause she believes in. Adults need to get involved in the program or cause they are passionate about because when caring adults stand together and speak with one voice to politicians, students win (Geoffrey Canada). The way forward is for advocates to get involved and do not give up.  

Reference
Kieff, J. (2009). Informed advocacy in early childhood care and education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

PERSONAL ADVOCACY REFLECTION

Having gone through series of interactions in this course up to this level, I realized that my life has not been directly touched by advocate effort but hearing testimonials of my colleagues in addition to research finding, my eyes are now open to areas of diverse challenges and needs which should be met to help children reach their developmental milestone and develop normally.

Specific areas I would like to concentrate on, for children ages 0 – 12 years, include the following: language arts, physical development, mathematics, creative development, science and socio-emotional development.

Given that resources are mainly devoted to children 0 -5 years to meet their developmental milestones but sometimes some children are unfortunate by default of circumstances and miss the opportunity of getting the services meant for their developmental milestone at 5 years of age. In continuation of their schooling, their experienced loss in developmental gap would be having negative impacts in their performances. I wonder whether this gap should be left or bridged but my conscience and passion align me in the direction of bridging the gap, therefore, I am advocating on their behave. Meaning that children ages 6 – 12 years old who need help ought to receive help to argument or close the gap in their developmental pattern.  

To be effective in closing this gap I would like to become a service/program coordinator so as to liaise between the parents, students, and teachers at both levels 0 – 5 years and 6 – 12 years old.  

My interest is focused on the economically challenged population whose children feel the impact of poverty most. These children manifest a lot of socio-emotional behavioral problems and mental health challenges. These problems deprive them of normal developmental progress.

Advocacy Action

To be an advocate is about making a difference in the life of an individual. I am excited and would like to learn more from my colleagues about being an effective advocate. I have learned a lot over the years about children and their development but will like to know more on how to help them achieve a goal where they can compete with the world at large.