Su

pporting Fam

iliesSu

pporting Fam

ilies

Together AssociationTogether Association

Su

pporting Fam

ilies

Celebrating the Family Home Visiting

Promoting Inclusive Services, An Effective Approach to Collaboration Responding to Families’ Needs, How Responsive are Policies?

Free Resource for Early Childhood Professionals Planning Inclusive Environments

Training Events, SFTA is Listening

Responsive SystemsIn this issue, you will find ar-ticles that illustrate how SFTA and our partner agencies are addressing disparities both culturally and linguistically to support families in Wisconsin. Look for our next issue in early January where we will focus on Quality Early Care & Education.

Join SFTA’s social media here:

On Saturday September 29th 2012, a group of people driven by the desire to strengthen our communities by building bonds of cooperation between child care providers and families, participated in the first ever Madison Festival, Celebrating the Family - Celebrando la Familia.Child care providers know the importance of engaging the family in the life of the day care. For this reason, the invita-tion to make the festival a reality was received with open hearts, creative minds, and many volunteers willing to help.It was a true community effort sponsored by Supporting Families Together Association, La Movida 1480AM, Union Sports Club, Madison Gas and Electric, La Rosita Latina, Garra Felina and its Norteño Band, Taqueria Guadalajara, The URSO Group, and “Manualidades Don Vicente.” The activities that children and families enjoyed were planned and prepared by child care providers from the Madison area and included many of those required by YoungStar, Wisconsin’s

quality rating and improvement system for child care, as well as Active Early, Wisconsin’s childhood physical activity pro-motion initiative.The children’s fashion show was a real treat. Our hearts were bursting with joyful pride at the innocence and grace of the children – watching them performing for their parents, care-givers and community, made me want to go to the end of the world to find ways to protect them from any hurt or harm. Louie and Manny Montoto were a delight with their Elvis Presley impersonation and break-dance. Children serenaded us with a number of alphabet songs in English and Spanish, as well as several versions of twinkle, twinkle little star.Five magnificent moles and several succulent salsas tickled our taste buds with the flavor of Mexican cuisine, in a contest that was judged by all those present who chose to play judge for the day.

Supporting Families Together AssociationQuarter ly NewsletterOctober, November, December year2012 Issue

11 this issue

1

Celebrating the Family A Community Event Bringing Families Together to Celebrate and Learn By Romilia Schlueter - Bilingual Quality Improvement Specialist at SFTA

Home VisitingIt’s All About Being ResponsiveBeing responsive to the needs of the families and the community is the core value in home visiting. Referencing the relationship between home visi-tor and family, Katy Murphy of the Department of Health Services (DHS) describes that “the whole job is being responsive.” Katy is the home visiting nurse consultant on the Department of Children and Families’ (DCF) and DHS’ three-person home visiting team, which also includes Leslie McAllister and Tom Hinds. Because home visitors go to a family’s home, they are uniquely positioned to be able to draw upon the environment and the context in which the family lives and works, making it easier to meet each family where they are at. Leslie describes how this process works: “Families and home visitors get to know each other, and, over time, build a trust-ing relationship based on mutual respect. Doing the work in a “one size fits all” fashion simply won’t be effective. We must be responsive to families in order to get positive results.”The home visiting team at DCF plays a significant role in professional development by ensuring that train-ings are relevant to the needs of home visitors, their supervisors, the organizations they work for, and the families they serve. The home visiting team believes it is the responsibility of those supporting profession-al development to continue to improve and modify training content based on well-assessed needs. To do this, the team advocates for the use of a debriefing form that calls for trainers to reflect upon their own practice and the practice of co-trainers, as applicable. The team- along with the help of their professional development partners – are also developing a meth-odology to determine effectiveness of training for home visitors based on their and their supervisors’ reports of practice change or improvement related to training and coaching received.A major benefit of the home visiting work being done at the state level is the coordination of and accessibility to data in real-time. This is made pos-sible by the database housed at DHS, which collects standardized data from programs across the state.

The home visiting programs have varying levels of experience using the database; therefore, the home visiting team and the database administrator are providing training and technical assistance to the programs as they learn the system. Through col-lection of data, the home visiting team will be able to cater to the needs of each program and make data-driven decisions. Similarly, local home visiting programs can pull accurate, timely data to make informed decision for their own services. Much of Tom’s data work to-date has been in conjunction with the database work group to prepare to report to the project’s funders. Tom explained that “the State’s home visiting project must use many of the data for required federal reporting” and he is “excited to get beyond the report and look at the data together with programs to think about how we can make the programs even stronger”. With a coordinated system of data collection, home visiting programs can draw meaningful conclusions from data pulls and implement new strategies that are responsive to the needs of the families and communities they serve. Home visiting aims to support families in experi-encing better outcomes. Effective home visiting empowers families and supports them as decision makers. The team that Leslie, Katy and Tom make up aims to strengthen a statewide system of home visiting. An effective and seamless system elevates home visiting and as Katy describes, “Elevating home visiting means elevating parents”. And when parents and families are held closely in mind, they are empowered to create the best possible out-comes for their children.

Moo, a Miniature Juliana Pig, came with his family Judah and Jena Rinzel and stole the hearts of many with his long eyelash-es and delicate hoofs, oink - oink to Moo!A grateful thank you to all the families who came to the festival, to all those who volunteered, to the families who entered moles and salsas in the contest, and the organizations and individuals who sponsored the event! The lives of our children are better because of caring people like you. THANK YOU!

2

The home visiting team works in partnership with local community-based organizations to:• Accesstoresponsivesupports• Beingabletoaccessdataandbeingable to make data driven decisions• Informingstatewidepracticesthrough local implementation

Do you have clients who could ben-efitfromSpanishaudioandwrittenmaterials about early childhood.Apoyando Familias - Aprendiendo Juntos providesinformationinSpanish to parents, child care providers and the community on topics relatedtochildrenandfamilies.Recently covered topics include:•HealthyPets,HealthyPeople•LearningtoControlAnger•KeepingKidsSaferontheInternet

Check out the Apoyando Familias blog formoreinformation.

Pleaseclicktheicontoview the blog

Northwest Connection Family Resources (NCFR) serves 14 counties and 7 Tribes in Northern Wisconsin. Whenever introduced or asked about NCFR’s service delivery area, the coun-ties and Tribes are always identified. It has been the focus of the agency, to serve everyone. Each individual Tribe makes up a significant part of the population served by NCFR. Jacqueline Strand, Kathy Mullally, and Robin Mainhardt have a long history and deep understanding of the need to include and recognize all. Robin Mainhardt (NCFR) is the Tribal Specialist

for the Wisconsin Inter-Tribal Child Care Asso-ciation (WITCCA). NCFR and WITCCA hold sev-eral values close in their work together. Building trust, having mutual respect, a listening ear and open communication are vital in this collabora-tion. By applying these values in interactions with each individual, they have experienced heightened success in delivering relevant and responsive services for children and families. Kathy describes that shared leadership is key in how the organization has been able to ensure that community needs are met, which

also involves ensuring participation is acces-sible to everyone. NCFR extends invitations to meetings, trainings and other events through multiple venues and to comprehensive contact lists. Jacqueline adds it is important in working with anyone, not to have preconceived ideas of what is needed but to work together to hear the needs of the community which forms the foundation for planning professional develop-ment opportunities and other services. NCFR feels it comes down to the fact that rela-tionships matter. Northwest Connection Family Resources integrates these principles into their daily work towards the best outcomes for young children.

Compassion, patience, education, experience. These are the elements that Child Care Resource and Refer-ral of Central Wisconsin (CCRRCW) frequently and repeatedly hears are important to parents looking for early care and education services.

And in their efforts to be responsive to families, early care and education professionals and communities, CCRRCW collaborates to bring the most relevant information and practices through professional development. For over 15 years, CCRRCW has been a part of Caring Hands which bring training to Wood County to ensure inclusive services that meet the needs of all children, especially children with special health care and early learning needs.

Kelly Borchardt, executive director of CCRRCW, describes that on evaluations for nearly any early care and education training they deliver, someone always mentions the need for more professional development regarding special needs. So when the opportunity to bring Mark Sweet, author and presenter of A Thinking Guide to Inclusive Child Care to Wood County came up, they jumped.

And Mark Sweet’s take on inclusion was received with overwhelming positivity. With an intimate group of providers, Mark showed how he lives what he presents and filled the day with real life examples and tangible applications. Participants left with a new outlook on understanding a child’s perspective, motivations and thoughts that translated into renewed compassion, strengthened patience, con-tinued education and a readiness for more experience.

3

AnEffectiveApproachtoCollaboration Building Relationships in Northern Wisconsin

PromotingInclusiveServices Meaningful Professional Development

Responding to Families’ Needs ParklawnFamilyResourceCenter’sApproach

At Parklawn Family Resource Center, staff knows that a family’s needs don’t arise just between the hours of 8am and 5pm and not just when parenting classes are scheduled. And this is where responsive services come into play. Welcoming walk-ins and staffing a warm-line, Parklawn hears the needs of families and moves to meet them.

For example, Parklawn Family Resource Cen-ter recently re-evaluated their programming schedule when families brought concerns about conflicts with Head Start scheduling to light. Families described Head Start time as time for their child’s early learning and the fam-ily resource center as their place for family. And so, Parklawn sprang into action, modifying their schedule because why should a family faced with many difficult decisions have to choose between early learning and family support.

Andrea Alfke, parent educator at Parklawn, further describes the center’s services. She acknowledges the stressors that families may

be dealing with in that it can be very difficult to leave the day behind and learn. This is why she approaches her work in a way that intentionally combines education with support. She ensures that families have the venue to talk about what needs to be talked about so that they can then be ready to absorb more information. Andrea reaffirms the responsive role of the family re-source center saying, “We hold mom and mom learns how to hold baby”.

4

Policy, whether it’s an organizational policy, a local ordinance, a state statue or a federal law, has immense power to determine population outcomes. With this power, policies can dispel discrimination, promote cultural relevance and strengthen communities or conversely it can ignore segments of the population, create or pro-long disparities and even institutionalize bias. As advocates for young children, for every policy it’s our responsibility to ask: how responsive is this? And the questions keep coming: • How does this policy impact each ethnic or cultural community?

• How does this policy impact families of every socioeconomic status? • How does this policy impact children regardless of ability? • How does this policy impact diverse family structures? • How does this policy fit with the context in which families and communities live? • How does this policy uphold or discard the dignity of a child, a family and a community? • How does this policy maximize its impact? • How does this policy intentionally impact communities in need or at risk? • How might the policy unintentionally impact communities in need or at risk?

However, asking questions alone is not enough. It’s also about asking the right people and engaging in deeper conversa-tions about what a policy would mean for a child, a family and a community. These conversations have to happen over and over to gain a meaningful understanding for how a policy might impact different populations in different ways. And lastly, action comes into play. The diverse voices of communities need to be empowered because they are the strongest voice with the best understanding of their needs, their context and their aspirations.

HowResponsivearePolicies?Our Role as Child Advocates

Early Dual Language Learner Initiative: The Power to Welcome and Serve

Delivering services in a way that sends a warm welcome to all young children and their families can present early childhood professionals with new opportunities and new challenges. As Wisconsin communities grow and expand, so too does the vis-ibility of new and under served members of our community. This growth pushes ethical ser-vice providers to ask ourselves if we are using our power to welcome and serve others in the best way possible. Our own professional development allows us to meet growth in a responsive and effective way. “The newly developed Early Dual Language Learner Initia-tive (EDLLI) provides resources, professional development, and technical assistance to community partners regard-ing culturally and linguistically responsive practices for young children, birth through 5.” This initiative, which is part of Wisconsin Early Childhood Collabo-rating Partners, has made available FREE Tip Sheets to support professionals who work with dual or multi-language learners. From understanding who dual language learners are and working with inter-preters effectively to understanding language de-velopment and ongoing and diagnostic assessment, these practical Tip Sheets are an important tool for

early childhood professionals and policymakers to add to their tool box. The Tip Sheets are grounded in research and identify facts that offer a counter balance to the confusion and myths about dual language learners that professionals may experi-ence if they are new to working with these popula-tions. The Tip Sheets have instructional tips which can inform daily caregiver and teacher strategies.

Each Tip Sheet also has practi-cal guidance about working effectively with the families of dual language learners. Cur-rently, there are 15 Tip Sheets available at the Collaborating Partner’s website. Ruth Reinl, the lead architect and author of the Tip Sheets has also cre-ated a FREE Online Module to introduce this information to early childhood professionals.Below are the topics covered in the Tip Sheets:

Facts and Tips Series: Overview Facts and Tips: Quick Tips - Getting Started Facts and Tips: Topic 1 - Who are DLL’s Facts and Tips: Topic 2 - Using Interpreters Effectively Facts and Tips: Topic 3 - Cultural Considerations Facts and Tips: Topic 4 - Language Development Facts and Tips: Topic 5 - Assessment-On-Going Facts and Tips: Topic 6 - Instructional Practices

FREEResourceforEarlyChildhoodProfessionalsByLillyIrvin-Vitela-ExecutiveDirector,SFTA&MemberoftheEarlyDualLanguageLearnerInitiativeAdvisoryTeamandSteeringCommittee

5

Look for the review in our next newsletter where we will be

highlighting The 2013 Redleaf Calendar-Keeper.

Recommend a resource to reviewAre there resources out there that you would like to know more about? We are looking for resources to review in upcoming newsletters. Please send your submissions to: judah@supportingfamiliestogether.org

EarlyDual Language LearnerInitiative

TheNext Resource to Review is...

The alarming and enduring achievement gap for children who are learning more than one language begins long before formal school entry. Early Childcare professionals play a vital role in helping to close that gap by ensuring that young dual language learn-ers have equal access to the preschool curriculum as they acquire English. Equal access to the curriculum means that dual language learners receive the language supports and scaffolding they require to both understand and participate in learning activities and social communication throughout their program day.

- Ruth Reinl

“

”

“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden

It is essential for our children’s healthy development that they experience environments respectful and supportive of their unique identities, including such attributes as culture, language, ethnicity and family composition. We aspire to achieve levels of cultural and social competence that will provide the environ-ments of welcome, respect and acceptance that every child and family deserves.Our vision is clouded by our own backgrounds and experiences, so achieving and maintaining culturally responsive programming is challenging. By sharpening all of our senses to discriminate our programs’ successes and shortcomings, we do our best to: • Relish the process of getting to know our families and their unique attributes. They will teach us through relationships of trust.• Plan our environments carefully to reflect the diversity of those we serve, so they feel welcoming and inclusive.• Do our best to recruit staff representative of the demographics of our participants.

• Ensure that our messages are linguistically and culturally respectful. To the extent possible, written and verbal communication must be in the preferred language of each family. • Seek partners in the community who have capacity, expertise and resources for meeting our diverse children’s and families’ needs. • While teaching English in our centers, honor and reinforce opportunities to strengthen and reinforce children’s primary languages; support the home as a learning environment, where parents will continue to reinforce learning by teaching their children in their home languages.• Welcome individualized plans and services for children, developed in partnership with parents, and sensitive to each child’s heritage.• Provide on-going professional development opportunities to enhance staff understanding and appreciation of cultural perspectives, recognition of the unique attributes of our children and families, and techniques to respond to diverse learning needs.Are we seeing through the eyes of our diverse children and families? Despite all we do, not yet. The process of achieving cultural competence and embracing diversity in its many forms will be an unending journey of commitment, discovery and celebration.

PlanningInclusiveEnvironments By Connie Robers - Executive Director of Rock-Walworth Comprehensive Family Services, Inc& SFTA Board Member

6

Jo Ann Grode - President Executive Director Housing Authority of Wisconsin Rapids

Connie Robers - Vice-President Executive Director Rock-Walworth Comprehensive Family Services, Inc

Pastor Deborah Mallek - Secretary Administrator Canaland Christian Academy of Early Learning

Staci Sontoski - Treasurer Family Support Professional Development Coordinator Milwaukee County UW Cooperative Extension

Kurt Heuer Chief of Police Wisconsin Rapids Police Department

Isabel Coriano Head Start Director/Program Administrator Day Care Services for Children

SupportingFamiliesTogetherAssociationBoardofDirectorsCCR&R Representative Paula Breese Executive Director Family and Childcare Resources of NEW

Therese Ahlers Executive Director WI Alliance for Infant Mental Health

Kelly Jensen Administrator/Program Director Sand Box Child Care & Preschool

Mary Beth Plane, MSSW, PhD Senior Scientist, Director Research Services UW Department of Family Medicine

Janet Johnson, CPA, CMA Senior Manager WIPFLi CPAs and Consultants

FRC Representative Jodi Widuch Executive Director The Parenting Place

Blaine Markuson Manager, Army Reserve Office of Equal Employment Opportunity United States Army Reserve

Melissa Velez B-3 Resource T/TA SE Region CESA #5

Patricia Woods-Clark Assistant Program Supervisor A Child’s Place Child Care Center/Goodwill Industries

Arianna Keil, MD Early Intervention Specialist, Waisman Center University of Wisconsin-Madison

Rock-Walworth Comprehensive Family Services Inc.

Head Start and Early Head Start®

Serving Rock & Walworth Counties

Head Start’s National Center on Cultural andLinguistic Responsiveness

SFTA is supported in part by

SFTAisListeningCongratulations to Sarah Niemann of Kiddie Academy of Learning in Milwaukee for winning the “SFTA is Listening” quarterly drawing! Sarah will receive a gift card for winning.

Let us know what you think about our newsletter! We want to hear from you. Send us your newsletter comments, suggestions & article ideas or just let us know if you enjoyed the newsletter! Send an email to Judah Rinzel at: judah@supportingfamiliestogether.org

If you would like to be added to our communications email list to receive this newsletter, our online digest and/or obesity prevention updates, fill out our registration form.

• The Wisconsin Head Start Association (WHSA) is holding the 2012 Poverty Matters! Conference on October 17th and 18th, 2012 at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton, WI. This conference (formerly “Women & Poverty Conference”) will bring together human service professionals, community leaders and state officials, low-income advocated, educators, and low- income people to talk about the causes and solutions to poverty. Visit WHSA’s website for more information.

• The Annual Wisconsin Inter-Tribal Child Care Association (WITCCA) Conference will be from 9am – 4pm on October 19th, 2012 at the LCO Convention Center in Hayward, WI. The topic this year will be on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Contact Northwest Connection Family Resources at (715) 634-2299 for more information and to register.

• The Northwest Connection Family Resources (NCFR) Conference Are We There Yet? will be from 9am – 4pm on October 20th, 2012 at the Hayward Wesleyan Church. Contact Northwest Connection Family Resources at (715) 634-2299 for more information and to register.

• The Waisman Center will be holding a Did You Know? Now You Know! Training on October 23rd, 2012 at the Beaver Dam Community Hospital – 707 S. University Ave. This training will provide a comprehensive overview of health care, community supports and services and resources for children and youth with disabilities and special health care needs from birth through young adulthood. Visit Waisman Center Calendar for more information.

• WI FACETS will be holding a Statewide Telephone Workshop: Families Are Important: An Early Childhood Curriculum Webinar training on November 12th, 2012 from 12pm – 1pm. Visit WI Facets’ Website for more information.

• Developmental Screening Webinar Series. Is your community ready to explore how to implement developmental screening systems? Register for the webinars by using the links on the Tip Sheets. The first webinar begins this month. Register for the webinar on October 18th from 12:30pm - 1:30pm, on tip sheets 1-3. Register for the webinar on November 15 from 12:30pm - 1:30pm, on tip sheets 4-5.

Training Events

SFTAOnlineMonthlyDigest

Su

pporting Fam

iliesSu

pporting Fam

ilies

Together AssociationTogether Association

Su

pporting Fam

ilies

700 Rayovac Drive, Suite 6Madison, WI 537111.888.713.KIDS (5437)www.supportingfamiliestogether.orgMeet the SFTA staff by visiting our Staff Page

SFTA’s Online Digest provides family support professionals with resources and tools for supporting their work with families and focuses on research-based practice, family policy & advocacy, organization & fund development, professional development opportunities and resources for practice. Sign up for SFTA’s Online Digest on the registration page. To view the archive of previous digests, visit SFTA’s publications page.

7