Parent Education and Support Baby's Space at Little Earth
The full impact of our high-quality programming for children depends on how well we support and educate parents in creating success with their children. Baby’s Space facilities are integrated one-stop child development centers in which full-day, full-year child and family services are interrelated and of equal importance. For example, a mother can bring her child to the childcare and stop to talk with a staff member about her worries about her violent boyfriend, eliminating the inconvenience of visiting another counselor at a different agency.
Helping parents build positive, protective factors that strengthen their families is the central goal of parent engagement. We work side by side with families, customizing support and education to respond to the strengths and needs of each child, parent, and family. Through participation in services, parents develop the understanding and capacities necessary to nurture their children, support their academic achievements, and ensure their children’s future success. As a result, support networks in communities are fortified with children and families becoming the force for lasting change.
Baby’s Space supports parents to develop and enhance five factors identified by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services:
For families living in poverty, too many experiences focus on failures. Baby’s Space works to make its experiences and interactions with families as positive as possible. For example, transition scholarships allow Baby’s Space to provide consistent, uninterrupted care and education. The scholarships are for children whose parents are unable to maintain eligibility for subsidized childcare due to parental mental illness, homelessness, and involvement in child protective services.
In addition, Baby’s Space provides all incidental items that children need during the day, including diapers, food and extra clothing. As needed, staff may help families get cribs, strollers or winter coats. The relationships that Baby’s Space maintains with multiple community service organizations [Link to wish list] enables it to provide families with “birthday boxes,” holiday gifts, and children’s books.
Helping parents build positive, protective factors that strengthen their families is the central goal of parent engagement. We work side by side with families, customizing support and education to respond to the strengths and needs of each child, parent, and family. Through participation in services, parents develop the understanding and capacities necessary to nurture their children, support their academic achievements, and ensure their children’s future success. As a result, support networks in communities are fortified with children and families becoming the force for lasting change.
Baby’s Space supports parents to develop and enhance five factors identified by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services:
- Sensitive, responsive, and nurturing parent-child relationship;
- Understanding of stages of child development;
- Social connections and a sense of belonging;
- Ability to manage the stress of parenting, poverty and other issues; and
- Support in meeting basic needs.
For families living in poverty, too many experiences focus on failures. Baby’s Space works to make its experiences and interactions with families as positive as possible. For example, transition scholarships allow Baby’s Space to provide consistent, uninterrupted care and education. The scholarships are for children whose parents are unable to maintain eligibility for subsidized childcare due to parental mental illness, homelessness, and involvement in child protective services.
In addition, Baby’s Space provides all incidental items that children need during the day, including diapers, food and extra clothing. As needed, staff may help families get cribs, strollers or winter coats. The relationships that Baby’s Space maintains with multiple community service organizations [Link to wish list] enables it to provide families with “birthday boxes,” holiday gifts, and children’s books.
