Professionals in Early Childhood Interviews

     Hello my fellow bloggers and bloggets, I had the priviledge of interviewing two experienced professionals in the Early Childhood field from the Head Start program at One Hope United. The first person that I interviewed is a ten year veteren teacher. The second person that I interviewed is an administrator with sixteen years experience.
     Before I began my interviews I made sure that I explained to my colleagues that I was doing my internship at Kendall College this quarter and that it was a course that was going to focus on Advocacy in the field of Early Childhood. I mentioned to my colleagues that I had a few areas of interest in what I wanted to pursue my research paper on. I was very anxious to hear what they believed were some of the related topics and current issues. Interestingly enough, both of the professionals that I interviewed mentioned and made comments on similar topics. Some of the topics that were discussed were the same issues that I wanted to focus and research on.
     Families, and Male Involvement was a big topic on the minds of both of the professionals that I interviewed. It was a topic in an area that I have had much experience with, and something that I also felt was very important to advocate for. Current issues related to these topics recognized by the Early Childhood professionals are:

• Getting dads, uncles, grandfathers, etc. to get involved
• Getting families involved in the classroom, agency meetings, etc.
• Supporting families in need, sometimes difficult for families to acknowledge that they need help

 Other issues commonly encountered at work or discussed with other colleagues:

• Early dental treatment is needed, families need to be educated regarding importance of dental health practices
• Access to medicare insurance for adults, affordable housing, jobs that offer benefits, time to spend with children

What advocacy efforts are currently under way:

• Monthly male involvement group meetings
• Father and child sport outings
• Family support in place

Topics or issues of most concern and most in need of advocacy:

• Supporting families in need is ever present-the difficulty lies in the restrictions that come with certain resources & those limitations
• Families unfamiliar with the system, it is crucial that they are supported and guided in their language
• Dads and moms that have unstable relationships that may prevent them from both being part or having an active role in their childs school

     The two interviews that I conducted have influenced me a great deal in what I will decide to do my research paper on. The insight that I got was that we have the similar concerns and that we need to come up with a plan on how we need to get these advocacy issues started.