Sharing Web Resources

While browsing the Child Defense Fund Website, I clicked on the link “Policy Priorities”. Under this link the main focus addresses how elected officials can put an end to ongoing issues to help children prepare for a brighter future.  “Too many children live in poverty and suffer from preventable illness, neglect, abuse, inadequate education and violence” (Child Defense Fund, 2011).  As stated before poverty can have a major impact on the child’s development. As educators we should put forward every effort to ensure that our children needs are met in and outside the classroom so that their circumstances do not hinder them from learning.  Some of the main points to resolve these ongoing issues that our children face are:

·          End child poverty; (Child Defense Fund, 2011).

·         Guarantee every child and pregnant woman comprehensive health and mental health coverage and services; (Child Defense Fund, 2011

·         Protect every child from abuse and neglect and connect them to caring permanent families; (Child Defense Fund, 2011

·         Provide high quality early childhood care and development programs for all children; (Child Defense Fund, 2011

·         Ensure every child can read at grade level by fourth grade and guarantee quality education through high school graduation; and (Child Defense Fund, 2011

·         Stop the criminalization of children at increasingly younger ages and invest in prevention and early intervention. (Child Defense Fund, 2011)

One e-newsletter that raised my concern spoke about the cutbacks that will affect our children. It related to the current issues regarding the government shutdown. “We could face a government shut down and devastating budget cuts for our children and families are looming” (Child Defense Fund, 2011).  Due to the government shutdown there will be:

• 218,000 children would lose Head Start; 16,000 classrooms would close and 55,000 jobs would be lost. (Child Defense Fund, 2011).
• 11 million children and adults could be denied health care from Community Health Centers. (Child Defense Fund, 2011)
• Many of the 9.4 million low-income college students would have their Pell Grants eliminated or severely reduced. (Child Defense Fund, 2011)
• Cuts are also expected to be announced soon in Medicaid, Food Stamps and other lifelines for poor children and families. (Child Defense Fund, 2011).

The information that I gathered from the Child Defense Fund has frustrated me because of the irrational choices that our government officials are making. They are not thinking about the long-term effects that children and families would encounter. As a future educator I am very concerned because if the government does not care about the well-being of children, who do we have on our side. Educators need support in order for us to be motivated to teach with the ongoing issues that we know would affect our children. At this point when I think of poverty I have come to the conclusion that it will never end. It saddens me to know that no matter what we do to ensure that our children have the best education experiences, there is a fight that come with it. I will not be defeated before giving it a try. I will go the extra mile and do whatever it takes for the well being of children.

Resources:

Children Defense Fund

http://www.childrensdefense.org/ 

http://cdf.childrensdefense.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=23001.0&dlv_id=22923