The Early Learning Advisory Council (ELAC) had a full agenda
at its daylong October 3 meeting in SeaTac. The full room included ELAC’s
newest members, state legislators, and visiting parents from the Department of
Early Learning’s Parent Advisory Group.
One of the big questions on the table is how advisory
councils like ELAC will evolve or change as DEL becomes the Department of
Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF). Councilmembers provided feedback on the
transition and what they envision for the future of early learning in
Washington state. Many members stressed the importance of keeping early
learning a focus of the new agency, while at the same time putting DEL’s
collaborative culture to work for even more Washington families.
For DEL and for many ELAC members, the transition to DCYF
represents an opportunity to build even more relationships with Washington
communities.
“I
think the legislature recognized that in order to have a system that truly
supports children, youth, and families that the new department needs to be both
informed by, directly partner with, and be held accountable by communities in
the state, and in particular communities that have the greatest needs,” said
Frank Ordway, DEL’s assistant director of communications and government relations.
“It’s just an unbelievable opportunity to reset the relationship between the
state government and communities within the state.”
In the coming months, DEL will continue to seek the input of
advisory groups as it transitions into DCYF, both during meetings and through
other stakeholder outreach in the near future.
Other highlights of the October ELAC meeting included:
- An update from the negotiated rulemaking team.
This group of parents and providers is reviewing licensing regulations in an
attempt to clarify, simplify, and remove redundancies in child care rules.
- A discussion on the Working Connections Child
Care (WCCC) program and how to maintain continuous, uninterrupted services
during the transition into DCYF. ELAC members stressed the importance of
placing families’ needs front and center as part of the WCCC program moving
forward.
- An initial discussion on ELAC members’
priorities for 2018.
- A panel of members of the Parent Advisory Group
(PAG). Nine of the 18 parents in PAG attended the ELAC meeting and shared their
views on choosing child care and on various types of childcare. They also answered
questions from ELAC members.
One of those PAG members, Teneille Carpenter, was recently
appointed to ELAC. She and her husband have been foster parents for 16 years,
and 7 of their 9 children were adopted from Washington’s foster care system.
“Many of my children have come from trauma and have required
special services,” Carpenter said. “In finding the services for my children, we
have a lot of learning and growing to do as a family. It’s not intuitive and
it’s not something we were prepared for from the beginning.”
Becoming a part of PAG nearly three years ago helped her
give a voice to families like hers, she said. Now, as a part of ELAC, she can
bring her perspective to a different group of influencers.
“What I love about ELAC is that they value the input of
parents,” she said. “It’s a specific strength of ELAC and the Department of Early
Learning in general,
they just create an environment where you feel empowered to use your voice to
change things but also to help inform people.”
Carpenter also hopes to bring her perspective as a parent in
rural Grays Harbor County, where many families struggle to access care.
Carpenter is one of many new ELAC members. Carlina
Brown-Banks was appointed to the committee by the Washington State Commission
of African American Affairs. As the family engagement manager at the Road Map
Project and a mother of 7 kids, she recognizes the importance of engaging
children and families as early as possible.
“Early learning is the basis of the outcomes of families,”
Brown-Banks said. “If we can get a strong early learning foundation for
families…it will build better opportunities for children over the long haul.”
Brown-Banks, who has been recognized by the White House as a
Champion for Change, also stressed the need for more diverse voices in
discussions on how to support children and families.
Another new ELAC member is Susan Anderson-Newham, the early
learning supervising librarian for the Pierce County Library System. As the
Washington Library Association representative to ELAC, Anderson-Newham hopes to
share with others what the state’s libraries can do for providers. It’s easy to
forget all the free resources that libraries can provide – everything from
trainings to pre-school story time, she noted.
Sharing resources, ideas, and perspectives can ultimately
help Washington’s children, she said.
“If we could all start swimming in the same direction then
we could create real movement in the water,” she said. “That’s sort of what
we’re looking for is to try to sort of align, partner better, not recreate the
wheel, share resources, share ideas.”
Also in attendance at the October 3 meeting were two of
ELAC’s legislative council members, Senator Mark Miloscia of the 30th
legislative district, and Representative Tana Senn of the 41st
legislative district.
The next meeting of the Early Learning Advisory Council will
take place on December 5. During this meeting, members will have additional
opportunities to discuss their priorities for 2018 and the DCYF transition.
More details about this meeting will be available in the coming weeks.
The day began with a discussion with Chris Stanley, DEL
budget director. Stanley provided PAG members with an introduction to the
budget process and sought input on DEL’s budget priorities. Parents praised
DEL’s home visiting programs, Head Start and ECEAP programs, and parent
engagement initiatives. They said they would like to see more funding to
support behavioral health and provider training, for extended ECEAP services
such as full-year, full-day, and extended-day services, and for subsidy rate
increases, especially for infant and toddler care.
