Early Child Care Providers Share Recommendations for Improving Systems
This series will share reflections from Baby 1st Network’s virtual Community Convenings.
Baby’s 1st Network’s Community Convening series, “Using Our Radical Imagination: What Equitable Systems of Maternal, Pregnancy, and Infant Care Will Be,” provided attendees with information about policies that may impact their work, shared best practices, helped improve skills, and featured experts in a variety of health topics, including safe sleep, breastfeeding, improving birth outcomes, and more.
The convening, held on August 15th, featured Early Childcare Providers who highlighted the need for culturally competent care, particularly for Black babies, and educating parents and caregivers on safe sleep practices to change cultural norms.
Featured guests:
- Rae Stewart is the director and owner of Little Incredibles Early Learning Center, an early learning facility offering unique programs that incorporate a variety of educational learning theories. Stewart is an early childhood educator who has worked with children for over 15 years.
- Drew Scott is the founder and CEO of Spec Results LLC, and a fierce advocate for children with autism. Spec Results is an educational and behavioral service program that provides intervention services, educational services, and therapeutic for children with autism. While Spec Results serves all demographics, the primarily serve Black children.
Keep reading for recommendations from improving systems, including access to high-quality prenatal and postpartum care for families, improved early childhood education, mental health support, and other strategies for making breastfeeding and safe sleep a norm in all communities.
Enhance Education to Help Transform Systems
Stewart emphasized the importance of culturally competent care and training staff on implicit bias and anti-racism when working to improve outcomes for Black families. She shared her efforts to educate parents about safe sleep practices and the challenges of changing cultural norms to encourage breastfeeding and safe sleep practices with families.
“I specifically to train all staff just on cultural competence, implicit bias, and anti-racism,” Stewart said. “Having culturally competent care for Black babies and children is what an ideal system looks like, especially in childcare. Giving them that training helps us break some of those generational things that we do, like putting our babies on their tummies to sleep, or even co-sleeping. Though we may have grown up like that, and we may have been okay, it’s important to let my staff know that it’s not safe, no matter what parents say.”
Scott discussed the importance of access to high-quality prenatal and postnatal care for Black families and emphasized the need for education rather than reprimand when addressing developmental milestones.
“What I find with the demographic that I serve is parents are often nervous or apprehensive about reaching out to different programs in the area because they feel like they may be investigated, maybe they may be questioned as to why their child isn’t receiving certain access to care or access to interventions,” Scott explained. “They need education, as opposed to being investigated”
She also highlighted the importance of funding and support for minority-owned organizations to provide necessary services.
“An ideal system will provide the funding and support necessary for minority owned organizations to provide a variety of services to Black babies and children,” Scott said. “As we know, funding is really limited in certain areas. The funding that we do receive is very specific as to what it can be used for, what can be charged. We need access to more grants in a variety of funding areas to address all the needs.”
Authentic Community Engagement is Key to Building Trust
In addition to enhanced education, panelists highlighted the need for genuine support and understanding to help families succeed. Stewart shared her efforts to provide resources through her organization, including a pantry for babies and mothers. She emphasized the importance of being an advocate as well as supporting families in tangible ways.
“It’s important that you advocate for your community and be a supportive ally,” Stewart said. “I listen to the experience of the mothers and the families in my building, and I try to amplify their voices and discussions.”
However, Stewart explained, listening is not always enough. She encouraged professionals to get active in their communities to help fill in gaps and provide basic resources and support to families.
“I’m at the phase where I need to stand up and really advocate and voice what some of the deficits are in our community,” Stewart said. “I recently opened a pantry for babies and mothers to get formula and diapers. We have people donating clothes, and so once a week now, they’re able to come to our center and pick up donations. I’m not just speaking about what the issues are but taking action.”
Optimize Perinatal Care to Set the State for Long-Term Health
Wraparound prenatal and postpartum services are necessary to support mothers and families who may be struggling with mental health challenges. Wraparound services for postpartum care can include postpartum doulas, lactation consultants, peer support groups, home visiting, recovery-oriented support for substance abuse, and support for parents experiencing housing instability.
“I see a great need around mental health,” Scott said. “Resources are becoming available, and more opportunities are becoming available, but I also see a larger gap. I see a growth between the haves and the have nots, and I don’t know how both can happen simultaneously, but that’s exactly what’s occurring. I want people to know that now, more than ever, whatever resources, whatever advocacy you can offer, it really is needed as this time.”
Both panelists emphasized the importance of staying informed about policies and best practices and highlighted the need for more resources and support to address the gaps in services for Black families. For more strategies for creating equitable systems of maternal, pregnancy, and infant care, read more from the series.