Advocacy
This is Missouri State childcare advocacy week and I thought
I would share with you why I think advocacy is important.
In the last week I have added five children to our
waitlist. We currently have a waitlist that
is almost double our legal occupancy.
While part of that is because we have an amazing program that provides
loving care and encourages social emotional growth. We also provide a
stimulating environment that encourages creativity, problem solving, and higher
order thinking, along with creating a community of support for our families and
staff.
Unfortunately, I don’t think our greatness is the whole
reason we have such a long waiting list. I think it also has to do with the
lack of other amazing places in our area.
Prier to Covid we were already in a childcare desert, for
every 40 children who needed PreK care, there was ONE spot available. In the last year, almost 40% of small centers
in Missouri have closed their doors permanently.
I often hear from families who put their child on numerous waitlists,
hoping to get in somewhere soon.
I have had parents tell me that the center or home they take
their child to was not their first or even second choice, but they needed childcare
and that place had a spot.
This is not how it should be!
As a director I have struggled in the past to find quality
staff and options for substitutes are nonexistent at times. Our centers need to be well staffed and there
needs to be consistency in care. Consistency allows for strong attachments to
form and those attachments allow a child to feel safe. Many centers are struggling to find quality staff
and turnover in early childhood is very high, making it hard for children and
families to form attachments with caregivers.
This is not how it should be!
We all know that the first three years are when most brain
development happens and that the years 3 to 5 can either prepare a child for
school and life, or not. Parents should have numerous high-quality centers/homes
with open spots to choose from. Some
parents may want early academics (despite the evidence against it) and they
should have many such places to choose from.
Other families may want a play-based center where the children are
outside much of the day, like Birdsall House. There should be many high-quality
play-based centers for families to choose from.
The only way that is going to happen is to invest in early
childhood.
The only way investment will happen is through advocacy. We need to advocate for investment in the quality
centers we already have so that they can grow and serve more children.
Did you know that many centers require a teacher to have a
degree and yet the average wage for childcare in Missouri is $11.29 an
hour. Many collages are finding fewer
and fewer students who want to study early childhood education due to the low
wages.
The only way to change this is to invest in early childhood.
The only way investment will happen is through advocacy. We
need to advocate for investment in early childhood so educators can earn a livable
wage without raising the burden on families for the cost.
Our families deserve to choose who they want to trust to
help raise their children. Our caregivers deserve to not have to stress about
how they are going to feed their own children.
This is why I think advocacy is important. Advocacy can be as easy as signing a petition
or filling in a form to send an email.
Please consider adding your voice to the many others advocating for our
children.
If you would like to be an advocate for early childhood but do
not know where to start, check out http://kidswinmissouri.org/
for more information about advocacy campaigns you can add your voice to.
Thank you for supporting and advocating for children and the
people who care for them.
