More Information on The Children's Defense Fund (CDF)

My current professional development focuses on better understanding of interventions used in early childhood education to ensure that disadvantaged children and children with mental health diagnoses have an equal chance. One of the programs that The Children's Defense Fund  has in place is they work to build awareness of the root causes of the Cradle to Prison Pipeline and trends that incarcerate our youth.  According to the website, "The Children's Defense Fund's vision with it's Cradle to Prison Pipeline campaign is to reduce detention and incarceration by increasing preventive supports and services children need, such as access to quality early childhood development and education services and accessible, comprehensive health and mental health coverage. Emphasis must be shifted for the sake of our children and our nation's future."

One of the articles I came upon in my readings was a comparison of black and white children. I knew that inequalities exist but I was surprised to read so many of the differences.

Black and White:

Black Children Compared to White Children

Black children are poorer.

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Three times as likely to be poor

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Nearly four times as likely to live in extreme poverty

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Seven times more likely to be persistently poor

Black children are less likely to live in traditional two parent families.

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More than twice as likely to be born to a teen mother

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More than twice as likely to live with neither parent

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Almost three times as likely to live with their mother only

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Four times as likely to be placed in foster care

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More than seven times as likely as to have a parent in prison

Black children are in poorer health.

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More than one and a half times more likely to be uninsured

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Almost twice as likely to be born at low birth weight

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More than twice as likely to die before their first birthday

Black children are behind in school.

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Half as likely to be placed in a gifted and talented class

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More than one and a half times as likely to be placed in a class for students with emotional disturbances Almost twice as likely to be placed in a class for students with mental retardation

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Two and a half times as likely to be held back or retained in school

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Almost three times as likely to be suspended from school

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More than four times as likely to be expelled

Black children are more at risk of arrest, incarceration and gun death.

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More than twice as likely to be arrested

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As likely to use drugs but twice as likely to be arrested for drug offenses and more than five times as likely to be in secure residential placements for these offenses

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More than four times as likely to be detained in a juvenile correctional facility

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More than five times as likely to be arrested for a violent crime (at ages 10-17)

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More than five times as likely to be killed by a firearm

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Black males born in 2001 are more than five times as likely as White males born that year to   be incarcerated some time during their lifetime.September 2011

The CDF advocates for rights of children. The CDF talks about various policies that are in effect that help children. An example is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama. This act helps alleviate the stress on families and communities by investing in improvements for a range of needed services and supports, including those services that will help children in poverty. The CDF believes in the investment of children. I realized how much politicians can have an affect on our children.

Another insight that I gained  was under the Take Action link. They suggested ways to advocate for children which include, emailing and calling elected officials, write a letter or meet with an elected official, and/or write an letter to the newspaper.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

I have two contacts set up, both are from Australia. I have not heard from them this week to discuss poverty, so I chose a podcast from http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/current-work/world-forum-radio  for this week. I am fascinated by what I learned about a man named Meridas Eka Yora. He is the founder of  TheYayasan Fajar Hidayah Foundation. There are vast amounts of orphans from the wars and fighting in Indonesia. He developed three boarding schools for the orphans of the wars. They are located in Aceh, which is a special territory on the southern tip of Indonesia. This is the site of the closest land to the epicenter of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and devastating tsunami. The tsunami left many orphaned children. The foundation took in all of these orphans.

The one thing I found so touching is the philosophy of the school. The teachers must first be the mothers and fathers to these children. They have to form a relationship of the mother and father since the children no longer have parents. They did hire many psychologists at first, but after the tsunami, they realized the best form of therapy for the children was the teacher’s relationship with the child. It is a holistic approach. The older students and younger students form relationships similar to siblings. It is very difficult for many children to accept they are orphaned. They get special treatment. He and his wife become parents to many of these children. This man sounds like such a caring individual and in my eyes he is a hero.

As of today, I have not heard back from Meridas Eka Yora or the foundation. I researched poverty in  India from the childhood poverty research website http://www.childhoodpoverty.org. I learned many things about India and poverty.  India is home to the majority of poor people in South Asia. Almost, half of the children under age 5 are malnourished. I really had to stop and wrap my mind around this. It is really hard for me to imagine this reality. This is so heart wrenching to think about. There are three programs in place to help with poverty. They are run by the central government. The three main types are rural employment creation, self-employment programs which provide subsidized loans to the self employed, and food subsidy.

The research for this blog post this week has been an eye opener for me of the realities of poverty.

My New Web Resource

The name of the organization I chose is The Children's Defense Fund. 
http://www.childrensdefense.org/

The focus of this organization is to provide every child an equal opportunity for success. The organization is an advocate for children.

I have read so much on their website and the archived newsletters. The Children's Defense Fund sponsors so many programs. One of particular interest is to dismantle, "The Cradle to Prison Pipeline". I have never heard of this term before. But the name says it all. According to the website, this is one of the worst crises that is facing black children since slavery. The goal of the program is to become Cradle to College.

This week in class we learned about changing demographics and diversity. I learned that demographics are changing and there is more diversity each day in the United States. After reading the resources and the discussions, I feel that it is important to teach children about other cultures. The Children's Defense Fund has established a weekend for the various religions to unite and make a difference in a child's life. This is called a National Observance of Children's Sabbaths weekend. This is on October 14-16.

The Children's Sabbaths brings together Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Bahá'í communities, as well as multi-faith coalitions that will lift up children in need and answer their own faith tradition’s call to pursue justice, mercy, and compassion.

What a wonderful idea for all children regardless of faith to celebrate a weekend that focuses on them and it does not matter what religion they are.

I can't wait to learn more about what the Children's Defense Fund offers.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

 This week I have been trying to establish at least two professional contacts from a country outside of the United States. The first step I took was sending an email to someone that I know in New Zealand. I know that at one point she worked in the Early Childhood Field, but I did remember that she changed jobs, so I was not sure if she still worked with children. I received her message back and was disappointed to find out that she no longer works in this field, she now works with teens and young adults.
I also looked on two websites, http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html and http://www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance. I sent an email to Early Childhood Professionals in Germany, Israel, Brazil, and The Philippines, to request if I could have the opportunity to correspond with them. I have not heard back yet. I am still holding out hope that I hear something back by early of next week, I prefer to correspond directly rather than have to do the alternate and listen to the podcasts.

The early childhood website I have chosen is The Children's Defense Fund. http://www.childrensdefense.org/home.html I started reviewing the various websites that were listed and I told myself, I will know the right one when I read about it and it feels exciting and I want to learn more.  This is what I read when I knew this was the site I wanted to learn more about: 

The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) is a non-profit child advocacy organization that has worked relentlessly for over 35 years to ensure a level playing field for all children. We champion policies and programs that lift children out of poverty; protect them from abuse and neglect; and ensure their access to health care, quality education and a moral and spiritual foundation. Supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations, CDF advocates nationwide on behalf of children to ensure children are always a priority.

I am excited to read about what sites my colleagues chose. If you have not chosen one yet, read through as many as you can and go with one that you have a passion about.