Family is the Foundation...Why Family Support and Early Childhood Education Must Be a Collaborative Effort

With Education in mind, I read this document and cheered!  If we can support families well, before they are school age, we can effect the greatest impact in our Education system and in our society.

http://www.frp.ca/document/docWindow.cfm?fuseaction=document.viewDocument&documentid=995&documentFormatId=1731

FRP (Family Resource Programs) Canada has submitted a policy paper for the Federal Government to consider in the 2012 Budget.

"...the next round of intervention efforts should take an ecological approach seriously, investigating how to change the child-rearing context for the families rather than focussing primarily on changing the child." Dale Farran, Another decade of intervention in Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention, 2nd edition, J.P. Shonkoff and .J. Meisels, eds. 2000.  Cambridge University Press.

This document has three policy recommendations
1)  Acknowledge the primary infulence of the family
2)  Build an integrated system through partnerships
3)  Retain and expand family support programs in the community

Pg 5 - Research from the field of neurobiology, genetics, health sciences, sociology, psychology and linguistics and epidemiology have reached complementary conclusions. 

• an infant’s brain is malleable and highly sensitive to its environment, even before birth
• warm, responsive, authoritative parenting and low stress environments are associated with positive child development
• harsh or unresponsive parenting and high stress environments are associated with impaired child development
• each stage of a child’s development depends upon the foundation set in place during the previous stage
• positive social and emotional development sets the stage for successful cognitive development; qualities such as curiosity, confidence, persistence, self-control and willingness to risk making mistakes contribute to learning and reduce the likelihood of aggressive behaviour and bullying
• factors that impact early child development have long-lasting effects across many domains including physical and emotional health
• impaired development, once reflected in the structures of the brain, is difficult to repair
• parenting and the early family environment have the most significant impact on children’s long-term outcomes

Pg 8 - Effectiveness of early educational programs coupled with family support.  Offering only the educational component does not have the same outcomes.

Pg 24 - Principles of Family Support